All Good Things Happen On New Year's Eve
by SoNotObsessed
Summary: I had only ever talked to Edward Masen when he would be at my house to hang out with my older brother, Emmett. So naturally, never once in my life did I ever expect Edward Anthony Masen to be my first New Years Eve kiss. ALL HUMAN! FULL SUMMARY INSIDE!
1. Background Info

**I had only ever talked to Edward Masen when he would be at my house to hang out with my older brother, Emmett**

**I had only ever talked to Edward Masen when he would be at my house to hang out with my older brother, Emmett. There were the occasional "Hey Edward", "Hello Bella" and "Bye Edward", "Goodbye Bella" and then the rare "What's up?" every now and then. So naturally, never once in my life did I ever expect Edward Anthony Masen to be my first New Years Eve kiss.**

_Here's just a little background information on my life and the people in it:_

I have one older brother, Emmett, who's currently a junior in high school. He's really tall and extremely muscular. He had this short but curly black hair and the absolute cutest dimples I've ever seen. Emmett is always one to crack jokes even in the most serious of times and he has this booming laugh that can be heard from miles away. He's also really attractive and can get almost any girl he wants. I swear, sometimes I think we're not even related.

But someone I'm not related to is Alice. Well, not biologically anyway. Alice never knew her parents. We adopted her when she was only a few months old. Nobody really knows why she was put up for adoption in the first place, but we all love her so much that we don't even really care. Alice is my age: sixteen years old; a sophomore in high school. She truly is my sister and also my best friend. She literally looks like a life-size pixie: she's about four-foot-ten, has black spiky hair, and is always bubbly and hyper. Always. She also has an incredible eye for fashion, and is always hoping that it will somehow rub off on me.

My parents are Carlisle and Esme Cullen. They're the two sweetest people you will ever meet, but believe me: they really know how to play the parent card. Carlisle is known as Dr. Cullen around here though, because well, he's a doctor at the main hospital. He was originally from London, England and sometimes you can still hear that accent in his voice. My mom, Esme, is basically your regular stay-at-home mom. She loves to paint and garden and all those other things like that. And boy, does she love her children.

My best friend in the world, besides Alice, is none other than the absolutely stunning Rosalie Hale. She, Alice, and I have all been inseperable since kindergarten. Thankfully she didn't ditch us for more popular people when her good looks started to come in. She has long, wavy, blond hair that goes down to the small of her back. She has full, pouty red lips and the most beautiful deep blue eyes you could imagine. Rose is super-sweet and super-protective of her family and friends. Believe me, Rosalie Hale is NOT someone you want to mess with.

Rose has an older brother named Jasper. He's been Emmett's best friend for as long as Rosalie has been mine. Jasper also has wavy blond hair, but his is only about two inches long. He's not really one to gab, like Alice, but if you know him well enough, you'll know that he can really come out of his shell… He, too, has blue eyes like Rose. If they weren't a year apart, I'd swear they were twins. Fraternal, of course.

This next person really isn't really in my life at all, but since he's so close to Emmett and everything, like Jasper, I figured I should just tell you a bit about him. First off, his name is Edward Masen. He's kind of quiet, but I've been told he has quite the personality. He moved here when Emmett was in second grade, so he's the newest best friend. Edward has this really interesting bronze-ish colored hair that always looks like he purposely made it look like he just got out of bed. He's almost as big as Emmett, but less bulky. He also had emerald-green eyes that make you want to melt. He got those from his mother, Elizabeth. Liz has been one of my mother's closest friends for as long as I can remember. Her husband, Edward Sr., also has a close relationship with my dad.

So enough about all of those people, let's talk about me.

My name is Isabella Marie Cullen, Bella for short. I have stick-straight dark brown hair that goes down to about my mid-back. My skin is abnormally pale, almost paler than Alice. I have big brown eyes that people say look like almonds. I'm about 5'4 in height. Alice always loves to play Barbie Bella, while for me it's just plain torture. Sometimes she'll even get Rosalie in on it. Ugh. My family and I have lived in Forks, Washington for my entire life. Well, actually we live in a three-story mansion just outside of the city line. I have a boyfriend named Jacob Black. He lives in La Push, which is about half an hour away from here. He has shoulder-length jet black hair, and has really dark skin, being that he is Quileute Indian and all. He's also about a foot taller than me, give or take a couple inches. That's pretty much the only not so good thing about our relationship. That, and how far away he lives. Jake's a really smart, really nice guy and I'm glad that he's my first boyfriend.

Well, that's me and my life… for now…

**A/N**

**Okay, people. PLEASE DO NOT get mad at me for having Bella and Jacob together.**

**If you read the first paragraph thing you'll know that something is going to happen between them.**

**Also, I'm pretty sure this story is going to be all BPOV, and I'm still not sure what the plot will end up being.**

**REVIEW FOR IDEAS! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**

**I should have the first actual chapter up by sometime tomorrow.**

**S.N.O.**


	2. Chapter One: Realize

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

**CHAPTER ONE: REALIZE**

"You're WHAT?!" I heard my brother Emmett's booming voice yell from downstairs.

"Em, calm down, okay?" My adoptive sister Alice replied to him in her normal tone.

"Why, Alice? Why the hell should I calm down?"

"Because it's not that big of a deal." She said to him.

"NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?! God, Alice! Why would you do this? It is SO like you to do something like this!"

"How? I mean, it's not like I've ever dated any of your friends before." I could hear she was starting to get mad. Time for me to step in.

I nearly ran down the stars and into the humongous living room where they were arguing.

"UGH!" Emmett exclaimed when I walked in, as he stomped out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"He's such a baby." Alice said to me.

"I heard that!" I giggled at his loud voice.

"You were supposed to!" Alice scolded in the direction he went.

"So I guess you told him about your date with Jasper?" I asked her, also looking towards the kitchen.

"Not exactly…"

"Explain?" I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Well, he kind of overheard me on the phone with Jasper going over details for Saturday night. He asked me who it was, and before I even got a chance to tell him, my phone was out of my hand and he was looking at the caller ID." She sounded exhausted and fed up and annoyed all at the same time.

"And that's when he started yelling?"

"Yep. He took one look at the screen, then his eyes got all big and his jaw nearly hit the floor. 'Al, would you mind telling me why you were on the phone with Jasper for _two hours_?'" She said, imitating his deep voice to near perfection. "And I told him, 'Well, because… we sort of… have a… date… this Saturday?' And _that's_ when all the yelling started."

I laughed out loud at the silly situation going on between my brother and sister.

"Bell, this is NOT funny! He's being such a frikking hypocrite! I mean, he's been dating our best friend for like, forever now, and I never got mad at him. In fact, I'm HAPPY FOR THEM!" She yelled that last part towards the kitchen. But it was true. Emmett had been dating our best friend Rosalie Hale, who happened to be Jasper's younger sister, for over a year now.

"Well, don't worry about him. You know he's just being big brother and he'll get over it eventually" I promised her, placing a hand on her fragile shoulder.

"Yeah you're right, Bell. Well, I guess I better go do my homework now."

"Alice!" I pulled my hand off her shoulder abruptly and looked at her with eyes as wide as Emmett's were when he found out about Alice and Jasper going on a date.

"What?!" She looked at me with a mask of shear terror on her face, not knowing why I just yelled at her like that.

"You still haven't done your homework?! I finished mine hours ago!" I explained to her. She immediately calmed down and sighed.

"Yeah, well, I don't waste my time doing yucky homework when I could be on the phone with an amazingly gorgeous guy making plans to fill my social calendar." She had a day-dreamy look in her eyes as she spoke of Jasper.

"But Alice…"

"Don't even go there with me Bella. You know I have a perfect GPA and how good of a student I am. I'm able to make that balance between school life and social life. Unlike you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I crossed my arms over my chest and furrowed my brow at her, tilting my head slightly to the side as I awaited an answer.

"Well, when's the last time you've gone out with Jacob?" She asked me. Jacob Black had been my boyfriend for jsut about as long as Emmett had been with Rose. His dad, Billy, and my dad used to be really close friends. They hardly ever spoke until Jake and I started dating. I just stared at Alice for a few seconds before I could come up with something to say. She beat me. "Exactly. Look Bell, I know how much you care about him. But does he? I mean, you guys are never making plans to hang out or do something. Never! And frankly, it's just sad."

"Sad? Wha—" Alice cut me off.

"Bella, it's sad because you never see him. I mean, he's your boyfriend for crying out loud! Honestly, tell me the last time you saw him." I walked over to the mahogany couch by the window and sat myself down on my favorite spot on the end, arms still crossed.

"I don't know…" She opened her mouth to say something but I stopped her by holding up a hand. "Alice, he doesn't live here though. Believe me, I wish I could see him more just as much as you do. But that's just not the way it is. I'm not about to go to his house, look his wheel-chaired father in the eye and say, 'Sir, I demand that you and your son move to Forks so he and I can see each other more often'." She looked like she'd finally accomplished something impossible to accomplish and looked at me with a weary smile before speaking to me again.

"Bella, that's my point exactly." I stared at her with a confused expression on my face. "What I mean is, maybe you should find someone a little closer to home. Jake is a fantastic guy and all, but Bella really, you guys never even talk." I looked into her deep brown eyes as I processed all that she had just said. Then I realized she was right. Jacob _was_ a fantastic guy. I was so lucky to have a guy like him as my first boyfriend. He was sweet, and caring, and funny… but the thing he wasn't was here with me. In Forks. Ever. That was when I decided that Jacob and I, as a couple, had to end.

"You're right. You are absolutely right, Alice."

"Well, aren't I always, though?" She said with a smug expression.

"I have to break up with him. But how? And when? Oh boy, Alice what am I going to do?" I put my face in my hands and leaned against her as she sat down on the couch beside me.

"You, dear sister, are going to go down to La Push right now to talk to him."

"But w-w-what do I s-s-s-say to h-him?" I whimpered into her shirt through sobs.

"Well, I don't know. Say whatever you need to. Tell him how you feel. And Bella?"

I looked up from my tear-soaked hands. "Yes?"

"Don't do…" she held out her arms and looked at herself then back to my eyes. "…this." We both started laughing and I wiped my tears.

"Okay," I sighed. "I'm gonna go."

"All right. When you get back, don't leave any details out okay?" I nodded my head as I grabbed my keys from the key bin next to the garage door.

"If I'm not back in two hours, come get me." I smiled at her before walking out into our big garage and over to my silver Volvo.

"Take as much time as you need Bella," she said to me through my open car window.

"Yeah. I will," I whispered as I backed out of the garage. "Tell Mom and Dad if I'm not home when they get back, okay?" But before I could hear her answer, I was out of the garage and onto the wide, open street that was Forks Highway.

**A/N**

**Yeah, I know it's short. But I promise: the next chapters to come will be much longer.**

**And seeeeeee I told you guys you didn't have to worry about Jake and Bella… or do you?**

**Mwah-hah-hah-hah**

**I'm evil. I've been told.**

**Anyway, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**

**S.N.O.**


	3. Chapter Two: Epiphanies

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO! BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

**A/N**

**First off, I want to say thank you guys SO MUCH!**

**I can't believe how many reviews I've already gotten!**

**I really appreciate everyone's feedback more than you know. It'll really help me to make my first fanfiction the best it can be. Someone mentioned that I should spread the plot out a little more and not rush into it so much, so I'm DEFF gonna try to do that... as soon as I figure out what the actual main plot is...**

**I love all you readers with all my heart!**

**Here's Chapter Two: Epiphanies**

**-S.N.O.**

CHAPTER TWO: EPIPHANIES

Driving down Forks Highway was never an easy thing to do. There were so many twists and turns, and not to mention the road was always slippery from rain. But it was so much harder to do when you had tears fogging up your vision every three seconds.

Breaking up with Jacob was never something I had planned on doing. But during my little chat with Alice I came to the conclusion that she was right. We never saw each other. I wasn't about to go through my yearbook and find a guy that actually lives near me when I got home, though. I was never one to go looking for guys. I had always said that if I were to have a boyfriend, he would find me. But even after this soon to be breakup between Jacob and me, I wasn't so sure I'd be ready for another boyfriend or crush yet anyway.

Crush.

Why is it called a crush? I think I'm finally understanding. It's because it hurts. It hurts to like someone who doesn't like you back. It hurts to have a boyfriend who you can never see. It hurts to like someone that you know it will never be able to work out with. Everything just… hurts.

And that little epiphany brought me to even more tears. I was about to hurt myself, and Jacob, more than anyone could ever imagine.

As soon as I pulled up to the old red house on the side of the road, I knew that both Jacob and his father were home. That was definitely going to be a bit awkward. Jake's personal car, a classic VW Rabbit, and the special wheelchair van for Billy were both in the driveway **(Wheelchair Van pic on profile)**. I pulled up beside the Rabbit and just kind of sat there for a good few minutes, thinking what was I going to say? How would I say it? Would I let Billy stay around? These questions and more flooded my mind as I sat unmoving in my car, until I was snapped out of it by a light tap on my driver's side window. Startled, I looked out the window to find Jacob standing in the rain, holding an umbrella for me. How he could tell I was out here, I didn't know. This Volvo made virtually no noise, especially compared to my old Chevy Truck. He smiled as I looked at him, and I grew ashamed of myself for allowing the corners of my mouth to turn upwards as well.

_Bad Bella. Very bad Bella. You should NOT be smiling right now! This is absolutely NO time for smiling!_ I thought to myself.

_But he _is_ my boyfriend_, my mind replied to itself.

_Not for long_, it argued back. I shook these thoughts from my mind as I cut the engine and carefully opened my door. Jacob, the gentleman he was, helped me out of the Volvo and under the black umbrella with him. As soon as my door was shut he grabbed my waist and pulled my lips to his. After a few seconds, I pulled away, breathless, and mentally groaned. That was NOT what I was planning on happening.

"I missed you so goddamn much, Bella," he whispered to me. All I did in response was smile wearily up at him and start walking towards the house. He dropped the umbrella as soon as we were under the overhang, but kept a hold of my waist. We walked inside and my nose was immediately filled with the familiar aroma that I remembered so clearly about this house. I took a few seconds to just take it all in, because depending on how things went tonight, this might be my last time ever standing in the Blacks' home. I found Jake's father sitting in front of the television watching a baseball game. Jake pulled me into the living room and announced excitedly, "Hey Dad, look who's here!" with a smile plastered on his face.

"Who?" Billy asked as he turned his wheelchair around to face us. His wrinkly old face lit up as soon as he took sight of me. "Oh, Bella! Haven't seen you in so long! Nice of you to stop by, hon!" I walked over to hug him while thinking to myself, _Yeah, real nice. You'll love me even more when tonight is over, Billy._ Billy had always been fond of mine and Jacob's relationship. Our break-up would probably hurt him just as badly as it would hurt Jake.

And me.

"Hey, Billy. It's good to see you." I pulled away and went to stand with Jake again. "Um, Billy… would you mind if stole Jake for a little while?" The both looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Uh…no, I… I guess not…" he answered to me. "But where exactly is it that you'll be taking him?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe just drive around and chat. Maybe go to City Plaza."

"Okay, sounds good. Just don't stay out too late, okay?"

"No problem." I said goodbye to Billy and took Jake's hand to lead him out of the house and around to my car. He stopped when I opened my driver's side door.

"Something wrong?" I asked him.

"Uh, no but… can we take my car instead?" I was instantly confused and I looked down at my car to see if anything was wrong.

"What's wrong with mine?"

"Well, nothing, I guess. I just like the Rabbit better."

"Jake, please. Does it really matter which car we take? I still don't even know where we're going, if anywhere." I explained to him, a hint of tiredness and exhaustion in my voice. It was still raining and my clothes were getting soaked, as well.

He sighed and opened the passenger door. "All right. We'll take yours," and got in. I just rolled my eyes and started the engine. Even though he was my age, Jacob was sometimes a lot less mature. Sometimes it was cute; others, like right now, not so much. Before I could put the car in motion, Jake grabbed my wrist and basically shouted, "Wait!" I stared at him wondering aloud what it was now that was stopping us from leaving. "I just wanted to do this…" he said, taking hold of my neck with his right hand and bringing my lips to his. I tried breaking away by pushing on his strong chest, but he mistook the action and started kissing me harder. Don't get me wrong; Jacob Black is a great kisser. It's just that I didn't want to mislead him anymore than I already had. He finally pulled his lips off of mine when he ran out of breath. "You have no idea how much I've missed that," he told me quietly, staring intently into my eyes.

I sighed and turned my head away, breaking his gaze, and looked out the window.

"Jake…" I started, but somehow I couldn't finish. I could feel him staring at me and I could only wonder what was going through his mind.

"What's up?" he asked me cautiously.

"Jake… I love you. You know I love you… but…"

"But what, Bella?" He sounded frustrated. For what reason, I couldn't say. All I could do was sit there in my seat wondering what the _hell_ I was doing. Here I was, with the most wonderful guy a girl could possibly ask for, and I was about to throw that away? For what? Just because I couldn't see him as much as I liked? I had obviously disproved that little notion by being here right now. Maybe Alice wasn't right… Maybe Alice was wrong… Was that even possible? Apparently. And obviously I was wrong for thinking that Alice was right. Jake was right. 'But what?' There were no 'but's. I loved Jake. We had been together for over a year now and have never had any problems before. So why start now? I smiled to myself.

"Bella…" I was snapped out of my thoughts to find Jake leaning back in his seat, seeming annoyed.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Bells… I think we need to talk." As soon as those words came out of his mouth, my smile fell.

"Um… about what?" My voice was shaking. And I'm pretty sure my body was too.

"Well… I think we both know that this isn't working out anymore. Actually, it never was." I stared at him in shock.

"Wh…What?" I was broken. Everything in me was broken. My heart, my mind, everything. And I was sure he hadn't even gotten to the worst part yet. The part where he would… No. I had to stop being so pessimistic. Maybe I could change his mind. "What do you mean it's not working out?"

"Oh, come on, Bella. Don't tell me that that's not what you came here about in the first place." He looked at me with his brow furrowed and his jaw tensed.

"It's not." I said to him. He gave me the famous Jacob Black 'Get Real' face. "Well, maybe that's how it started out." He let out a heavy sigh.

"What do you mean, 'that's how it started out'?" he asked.

"Well… earlier today Alice made me realize—"

"Alice." I was cut off and saw Jake cringe at the sound of her name. He had never really liked Alice. Something about her just made him crazy. I have no idea what, though. Everybody loves Alice. Well, actually now I might be able to understand why Jake isn't a part of that 'everybody', convincing me that we shouldn't be together, and all.

"Do you want me to continue or not?"

"Yes."

"Like I was saying… Alice made me realize that you and I basically never see each other. We never call each other to make plans, or just do something spontaneous."

"That's exactly my p—"

"Jake, stop. And yes, I came over here to break up with you." He opened his mouth to say something but I help up a hand a cut him off. "But after that last kiss, I realized on my own that we proved Alice wrong." He was just as confused as I expected him to be after that statement. "Meaning," I continued, "that we can see each other, not whenever we want, but practically whenever. Alice may have been wrong about this one, but I guess I kind of owe her thanks. If she hadn't told me that I needed to break up with you, then I never would have come here. And I never would have come here, then we wouldn't have realized that we _can_ make this work. Do you understand? Jake, we don't have to break up! We never had to." I had a goofy smile on my face, while he had no expression whatsoever on his. He just looked into my eyes for a few moments before sighing again, and turning to look out the window.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Bella, we do."

"We do what?" I was starting to get confused again.

"Have to break up."

"No we don't. Were you not just listening to me?"

"Bella stop! It's my turn to talk." I closed my mouth and waited to hear what he had to say. "Alice is right. I know, I can't believe that just came out of my mouth either, but it's true."

"I…don't understand."

He sighed yet again. There seemed to be a lot of that coming from him today. "We live too far away from each other to really make this relationship work. And she's also right about how we never call or e-mail or anything. Really, Bell, it's like we're not even together."

"But… you… and the kiss… and…" I was struggling to get my thoughts straight, in _and_ out of my head.

"Bella, I meant it when I said I've missed you and kissing you as much as I do. But that doesn't change anything." And here I was, thinking I would be the one to hurt him tonight. Ironic, isn't it?

"Well… then I guess… we're breaking up," I whispered, still staring at him in shock. "If that's what you want."

"I love you Bella, I really do. But not the way you want me to." He took my face gently in his hand and leaned in to kiss my forehead. His mouth felt so warm and pleasant on my head. Oh, how I would miss that. As he pulled away, I spoke so quietly I wasn't even sure I'd said it.

"But can we still be friends?" He placed his other hand on my left cheek, forcing me to look up at him. I realized then how perfect his features were. We were only 16, but already he was so… so… _grown up_. His entire body was chiseled to perfection; his long, dark hair had no static or frizz whatsoever, even with this humidity; his eyes were big, and dark, and gorgeous; and his skin was completely flawless. It was no wonder why he didn't want to be with boring, average me. With my average long, brown hair, and my average brown eyes, and my average—

"Of course we can still be friends." I was suddenly pulled out of my rambling thoughts at the sound of his voice. He gave me a genuine smile before kissing my forehead one more time before saying "Goodbye" and stepping into the cold, wet rain.

"Bye, Jake," I whispered after him.

**A/N**

**Ooooooo i bet you guys weren't expecting THAT, were ya? huh? huh?**

**anyways, i did a LOT of editing on that chapter. lots of little add-ins and little filler sentences.**

**i'm still not sure what's going to happen in the next chapter, but i think i've got a pretty good idea.**

**review if you have any suggestions for the upcoming and future chapters!**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**Love you all!**

**-S.N.O.**


	4. Chapter Three: Tearless

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

**A/N**

**I'm still looking for feedback from the last chapter so that I can make this one hopefully longer and better.**

**I still don't know what's gonna happen, but hey. That's the beauty of this story.**

**Lots of love and KEEP REVIEWING!**

**-S.N.O.**

CHAPTER THREE: TEARLESS

Either I was all dried up from crying so much on the way over, I didn't feel like it was a hard enough thing to start crying over, or it just hadn't hit me yet. I was guessing the answer was between options one and three. Jacob breaking up with me was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through. _Stupid, stupid Bella. If you never went over there in the first place, you'd still be his girlfriend._ I thought silently to myself.

_Yeah, and miserable. _I thought again. I let out a heavy sigh and tried to focus all of my attention on the road. That was close to impossible though. Every few seconds, my thoughts would drift back to the scene in the car, replaying what Jacob had said over and over and over… Something didn't seem right. I felt a mask of confusion take over my tired face as I tried to figure out what that 'something' was. He had seemed too happy and relieved to see me at first. And then before I was able to get the car moving, he had wanted to kiss me first. And it was a long kiss. Then he just seemed to… give up. Why? Hm, maybe I was just letting it get to my head.

I pulled up to my house still in a state of confusion. I hadn't shed one tear on the drive back home and that was starting to scare me. Was I happy that Jacob and I were finally over? No, of course not. Of course I wasn't happy. Then why wasn't I crying? Maybe I was just… not sad… That couldn't be. Of course I was sad… Wasn't I?

I pulled the key out of the ignition, opened my door, and got out. I could see a white and black blur heading my way as I closed my door and started walking up to the house.

"Oh, Bella! What happened? Did you break up with him? Are you guys over? Bella why aren't you crying? If you broke up you should be crying!"

"Alice! Calm down! I'll tell you everything once I'm inside and dry," I explained to her. We were walking towards the house as she continued to ask me more questions. Once we were on the porch, I turned to her abruptly.

"Alice!! Stop! I told you that I'll answer all of those hundred questions once I'm inside and dry!" She nearly scowled at me. Little pixie could be so impatient sometimes!

"Fine. I need to go fix my hair anyways." I started to open the big glass door, but Alice caught my arm before I could step inside. "And I want every single detail, important or not. Understand?"

"Yes, Al, I promise. Now let me go so I can go get cleaned up?"

"Just one question."

"Alice…" I complained.

"Just… did you guys break up?" She looked at me with true concern in her eyes. I closed mine and nodded my head slowly a few times.

"I'm sorry, Bell. Really. I know how hard break-ups can be," she said sympathetically to me. I just nodded again before heading into the warmth that was my home and bounding upstairs to my private bathroom.

Through my bedroom was the only way to get to my connected bathroom. This made me a teensy bit annoyed as I realized I would drip water and mud and whatever else was stuck to me on my luscious black carpet in my room. I ran as fast as I could from the bedroom doorway into my sanctuary, my private, king-sized bathroom. Alice and I each had one this size. Honestly, it could have been another bedroom if you really wanted to make it one. Mine was black and all different shades of purples and greens, just like my bedroom. The counters were made out of black granite that was speckled with gold all over. The cabinets were green with deep purple outlining and there were plain white tiles on the floor that led up to my white, green, and purple splatter-painted tub. Yes, splatter-painted. The wall tiles were like this as well. Mom had bought special paint that was permanent and made for this kind of thing. She, Alice, and I had had so much fun decorating my bathroom that day. We even got into a paint fight. I still have the outfit I wore that day pinned to the ceiling above my bed. I pulled back the purple shower curtain and ran the water until it was warm and the tub was full to my liking. I poured in my favorite scented bath bubbles, Pomagranate Mango, until I couldn't even see that there was water in the tub.

Taking a bubble bath was one of my favorite things to do, especially if I wanted to just escape or think or just relax. I took my clothes off, threw them into the hamper, and carefully sank into the wonderfulness that was my bathtub. Sooner or later, probably sooner rather than later, Alice would be pounding on my bathroom door telling me to hurry up and get out so that she could hear all about my break-up with Jacob. Almost as if on cue, there were three loud 'Bang's on my door, followed by one very annoyed Alice whine.

"Bella hurry up. Please! This is killing me! You said you just needed to get dry! Come on!" She yelled through the black door. When I didn't answer after a few moments, the banging started again.

"Isabella Marie Cullen, do NOT make me punch down this door!" For as little as she was, Alice was quite a tough person. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if I opened my eyes to find my large black door on the floor and Alice just standing behind it with a smug grin on her face that had 'Told ya' written all over it. Just to be sure, I opened my eyes and looked towards the door.

"Alice, go away! I'll be out when I'm out! Just leave me alone!" I yelled to her when I saw that my door was still on its hinges.

"UGH!!" I heard her grunt and storm off. I could hear, and feel, my bedroom door being slammed and just smiled to myself. _Well, at least she's gone_, I thought. I just closed my eyes again and let myself sink into a silent and peaceful bliss.

My bath allowed me to clear my head and get my thoughts straight. Now I was in my bedroom putting on my favorite comfy Pink pajamas. I was standing in front of my gorgeous black vanity brushing my hair when the phone rang. I put down my brush and walked around my king-sized bed and grabbed my cordless phone off of my black nightstand. Sitting down on my soft purple comforter, I pressed 'Talk' and answered the phone on the third ring.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey it's Edward." I heard that familiar velvety voice speak into the phone. Edward Masen was Emmett and Jasper's other best friend. He was really tall and sort of lanky, yet incredibly handsome. He had this strange bronze-colored hair that was so perfectly messy and disarrayed. His eyes were the prettiest color of green you could ever have imagined. Edward was a truly nice guy. I never really talked to him, though. I only ever did on the rare occasion that I answered his phone calls before Emmett could, like tonight, or when he was over our house. I guess you could say we were friends. Well, maybe more like friendly acquaintances.

"Oh, hey Edward. Hold on, I'll go find Emmett." I hopped off of my bed and practically ran out of my room and out into the hall. I figured Emmett was in his room, so I went down to the second story (mine and Alice's rooms are on the third floor) and down the giant hall to his room. Sure enough, his door was closed and I could hear his favorite band, Linkin Park, blasting over his expensive stereo system. Knowing he wouldn't be able to hear a simple knock, I started pounding on the door.

"Em! Open the door!" I shouted to him.

"What do you want?" he asked as he opened the door for me.

"Phone. It's Edward," I said handing it to him.

"Thanks. Now buh-bye." He slammed the door in my face and I rolled my eyes, turning to go back upstairs to my room. I think I nearly had a heart attack when I saw Alice standing there, blocking my way, with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Now, Bella, where would you like to talk?" she asked me in her sweetest voice. I pushed past her and headed back to my room. Naturally, she followed me in and closed my door behind her. I went over to my window and sat down on my big green chair **(pic on profile)** that was next to it. Alice grabbed a pillow off of my bed and tossed it to me, then took one for herself and sat down on my bed, legs crossed Indian-style. "Okay. Spill," she instructed me. I opened my mouth to start but was immediately interrupted. I stared at Alice with I'm sure a frustrated look on my face. "Wait. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Again. I know it couldn't have been easy to go through. Okay. _Now_ spill."

I started off by telling her how I sat and idled in his driveway thinking how I would break up with Jake. I told her everything from all about how I got mad at myself for smiling at him, to arguing with him about what car to take, and then to how the tables turned when he ended up being the one to break up with me.

"Wow. I SO did not see that coming!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah. Me either," I responded quietly.

"So… he broke up with you when you were supposed to be the one breaking up with him… and then you didn't even cry?" she asked.

"No. And before you can ask, I don't know why."

"Well, are you happy that you guys are over?"

"Not _happy_, just… relieved I guess. Yeah that's it. I'm relieved." I said it with such certainty. Okay, so I wasn't all cried out. And it had hit me. I just felt relieved that I was now free. Well, free isn't exactly the best term, but it's the closest I could get to what I'm actually feeling.

"Well, that's… good… right?" Alice asked me.

I nodded a few times and then looked back up to her. "Yeah. I think it is."

**A/N**

**Yeah, not much really happened in that chapter. Sorry for that. I guess you could say it was just sort of a filler chapter. But I'm tired. My sister woke me up at 8 this morning. So my mind's not really in the best place for writing right now. Eh.**

**BUT I'm 98 sure that I know what's going to happen in chapter 4 (and probably 5). and I'm pretty sure you guys will like it. There's gonna be lotsssss of drama! I love it!**

**One reviewer asked:**

_**Does Edward secretly like Bella or do they both have no idea?**_

_**The answer is: right now they both are just kind of whatever towards each other. To Bella, Edward is just her brother's best friend, and to Edward, Bella is just his best friend's sister.**_

**Don't forget to review.**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**Love you all,**

**-S.N.O.**


	5. Chapter Four: The Call

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

**A/N**

**Okay so I forgot to mention when this is all taking place.**

**Bella, Alice, Rosalie, and yes Jacob are all in their sophomore years of high school. It's right before Christmas break. Just to clear that up.**

**So I really didn't get any responses suggesting what I should do for this chapter, so I'm kind of just winging it. I think you all need a good dose of HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA right now, though, so I'll try to fit that in to these next few chapters.**

**Here's Chapter 4.**

**Enjoy.**

**-S.N.O.**

CHAPTER FOUR: THE CALLS

A few days had passed since my break-up with Jacob _**(A/N—don't you just love how that sort of rhymed?! I DO!)**_ and I was still completely fine. Sure, I missed him and being able to say that I had a boyfriend, but now I felt like I had absolutely no restrictions.

I had come to the conclusion the day after the break-up that the only reason why I was crying on my drive over to Jake's house was because I felt terrible that I was going to be breaking his heart. Obviously, that's not what happened.

Today was a Saturday. It was about a week before Winter Break started, and time for my family to start making and addressing invitations for our annual New Year's Eve party. We always invited the same people, give or take the few friends that we would either lose or meet within the past year. This year, I believe we had 136 people that we were inviting in total. A lot of them were Mom's and Dad's friends, Dad's coworkers from the hospital, and some of our close family members. Others were mine, Alice's, and Emmett's friends. Some regular invitees were Rosalie obviously, her older brother (and Alice's date for this evening) Jasper, Edward Cullen and his parents, Angela Weber and her boyfriend of two years Ben Cheney, and… the Blacks. Mom had asked me repeatedly if I was sure it was okay to invite Billy and Jacob, and each time I would tell her:

"Mom, of course it's okay. We agreed that we'd still be friends, so hey it might be a little weird, but it should be fine." She was never quite convinced. Nevertheless, she still typed up an address label and ordered one more invitation.

Because we had so many invitations to label, we worked all day; folding the invites, placing them in the envelopes, stamping them perfectly with the Cullen seal, and then placing the address labels on the front cover. It was a family tradition that a week before Winter Break started officially, all five of us would just sit around in the living room, making party invitations and having a good time. We had been doing it for as long as I could remember.

_Flashback_

_Three Years Ago-_

"_Emmett, stop! You're getting the envelopes all smushed and wrinkled!" Alice whined as Emmett carelessly tossed his assigned invitations aside, then proceeded to step on them every time he got up._

"_Chill out, Al. It's no big deal," he calmly replied to her. Alice's expression became horrified as soon as those last four words were spoken._

"_It's… no… big… DEAL?! God, Emmett! You are so thoughtless!" She threw down the invitation she was currently labeling and jumped up to stand and look Emmett directly in the eye. (He was sitting on the couch, and she was eye-to-eye with him while she was standing up.) "You KNOW how important this is to me! These invitations have to be PER-FECT! Do you understand? P-E-R-F-E-C-T! PERFECT!"_

"_These invites have to be perfect, meh meh meh, oh meh gaaaaaaad perrrrrfect," Emmett was waving his arms around trying to imitate Alice's words. They went on and on like that for about fifteen minutes, while I just sat there on my favorite black recliner laughing at my brother and sister's immaturity. They were constantly having fights like that, even though we all know how close they were. Mom finally broke it up when she told Alice that she'd take away her credit card for a month and Emmett that he wouldn't be able to play any sports for the rest of the season. That got them both to back down immediately and we all continued to address the pricey invitations._

_End Flashback._

I giggled softly at the memory. Something like that seemed to happen every year. Emmett wouldn't care, Alice would get mad, blah, blah, blah. Alice really did care a great deal about stuff like this, though. I guess you could say she's the perfectionist of our family. About everything. Clothing, furniture, decorations, silly party invitations… But that was just her. Alice in all her perky, perfectionist glory. She was my sister, though, and I loved her with all of my heart. At that thought, I looked up from my usual spot on the recliner to find Alice trying to hold herself back and not scream at Emmett for being so careless and lazy. Good for her, though, for not cracking.

Mom and Dad were sitting on pillows from the couch and leaning against the wall. I smiled at how in love they were. My parents, as far as I knew, never fought. Never once did I ever hear them argue, except playfully. Mom was resting her head against Dad's shoulder, humming a familiar tune while sealing an envelope delicately. I loved that about her. How she could always be so happy. How she always hummed or sang while doing something. Dad seemed to be humming the harmony to the song. It was so adorable. I found that I had been smiling through that entire thought, long as it was, when I heard the landline ring. Emmett seemed to be the only one besides me to hear it.

"Hey, Em, could you get that?" I asked politely.

"Nope," he said to me, popping the 'p'.

"Why not?" I asked him on the second ring.

"'Cause I don't wanna?" he replied as if I was supposed to know that. I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily as I put the invitation I was working on down and made my way over to the kitchen where the nearest phone was. The Caller ID said that it was unknown number. That was strange. I picked up the phone and answered anyway.

"Cullen residence." I felt like greeting whoever it was in a polite and mannerly way.

But there was no response.

"Hello?" I tried.

Again, no response.

"Look, if this is a crank call I will—" I was cut off by the sound of the other line clicking off and the dial tone starting up. I pressed 'end' and set the phone back on its charger.

"Who was it, Bella?" Mom asked me as I came back into the living room.

"I don't know. It said 'unknown number'. I think it might have been a crank call though because—" I was interrupted again by the sound of the phone ringing again. I sighed. "I'll go get it." Again, I thought as nobody moved. I answered the phone the same way I did a minute ago.

"Cullen residence."

No answer.

"Is this the same person who called here just a minute ago?" I asked impatiently into the phone.

"I swear, if this is some kind of joke—"

"Bella?" My brow furrowed in confusion as I recognized the velvet-soft voice that belonged to Edward Masen.

"Edward?" I asked into the phone.

"Uh… yeah."

"Was that you who just called?"

"Um… yeah, sorry. The uh… phone line sometimes goes out like that." He sounded unsure of something.

"Okay… Well hold on a sec, I'll go get Emmett."

I started making my way back to the living room when I heard Edward's voice come through the tiny speaker on the phone.

"Bella, wait," he said abruptly, my brow furrowing again.

"Yeah?"

"Well… um… I… uh…"

"Spit it out, Edward," I sighed impatiently.

"I didn't exactly… call… for Emmett." I was so confused. What did he mean he didn't call for Emmett?

"Hey, Bella, who is it, honey?" Mom called to me from the living room.

"Um, it's no one Mom," I yelled back, covering the phone.

"I bet it's a boy," I heard her whisper to Dad. She probably thought I couldn't hear it. Hah. My own mother underestimates me far too much when it comes to that. Then I realized I still had the phone in my hand and I could heard Edward calling my name, probably checking to make sure I was still there.

"What do you mean you didn't call for Emmett? Why did you call?"

"Well, I… called… totalktoyou." That last part came out so quickly I wasn't even sure I'd heard it.

"Talk to _me_," I said as more of a statement rather than a question into the phone.

"Yes."

"Um… why… ?" I asked.

"Well, because… I was wondering… ifyoumaybewantedtogooutwithmetonight?" Again, I couldn't be so sure I'd heard those last few words he said.

"You… _what_?" I heard him take a deep breath before responding.

"Bella, do you want to go out on a date with me tonight?" He said that part more clearly and calmly. I gasped out loud, leaving my mouth hanging open in shock as I realized what was going on. Emmett was trying to play a joke on me. Why else would Edward be calling to ask me on a date? I mean, it's not like he liked me or anything. My eyes narrowed and the shock faded as the anger started to kick in.

"Emmett is _so_ going down," I whispered quietly.

"Bella?" Edward's voice snapped me out of my thinking.

"Edward, it was nice and all for you to call, but you don't have to play along anymore. I understand if you were forced into this and you called against your will, or maybe not. Whatever. I have to go kill my brother now. Bye," I said to him, clicking off the phone. Emmett was going to pay for embarrassing me like that. How dare he? How dare he force his best friend to call and ask me out. Ugh! He was so… so… Emmett! I was going to get back at him, alright. I just had to figure out how…

EPOV

I had been pacing back in forth in my room for hours. Her brother had called me the other day, telling me of her break-up with her long-time boyfriend the day before. Why he decided to tell me was beyond me. I mean, it's not like I was always gabbing to him about how much I liked his sister. Maybe he was just bored. I don't know. But I figured, as soon as we hung up, that this was my chance.

I just kept on trying to figure out what I was going to say to her, and then how. Ugh, why did asking a girl out have to be so damn difficult?! I finally just looked myself in the mirror and thought aloud, "Edward, you can do this. It's just asking her out on one little date. She's just a girl." But she wasn't just a girl. She was the most amazing girl I had ever laid eyes on. Sure, she was my best friend's younger sister, but that didn't matter. We never really talked, though. So this was going to be that much more difficult. NO. It wouldn't be. She was just a girl, and this was just a date. Just a girl, just a date.

I pulled the scrap of paper that had their landline number written on it out of my back pocket. I had memorized it from calling there so many times, but I was afraid that I would get so nervous I wouldn't be able to remember it. I was right. I sat down in my desk chair, cell phone and number in hand. It took me a few tries to get the correct number dialed because my hand was shaking so much. I also 67ed the number so she wouldn't give the phone to Emmett as soon as she saw the caller ID. Once I had the right phone number dialed in, I took a deep breath, and pressed 'send'. I knew that she would be home because Emmett had told me today was the day that their family would be addressing invitations for their annual New Year's Eve party. The whole family, all five of them, would be sitting at home all day, doing nothing but making the invites, like they did every year.

_Just a girl, just a date. Just a girl, just a date_, I repeated to myself as the phone rang.

"Cullen residence," she answered on the third ring. My breathing stopped at the sound of her voice. It was so sweet, and the way she answered the phone was so polite, so formal. I realized I hadn't yet responded when she asked, "Hello?" into the phone. But I couldn't answer. Something wasn't letting any words come out of my mouth.

"Look, if this is a crank call I will—" I cut her off before she could finish her threat.

_Stupid Edward. Stupid, stupid Edward!_ I thought to myself. _How could you just sit there and hang up on her like that?! The effect that girl had on me. That's how_.

After a few seconds of pep-talking my self again, I pressed the 'redial' button on my cell phone. She answered it again, more quickly this time, but with the same greeting.

"Cullen residence," I heard her say. Once again, I couldn't find the strength to reply. The sound of her voice just froze every muscle in my body.

"Is this the same person who called here just a minute ago?" She asked, sounding impatient.

"I swear, if this is some kind of joke—"

"Bella?" I interrupted. Oh crap. _Here we go, Edward. You're talking to her. You can do this._

"Edward?" She sounded surprised to hear me. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"Uh… yeah." It was all I could think of.

"Was that you who just called?"

"Um… yeah, sorry. The uh… phone line sometimes goes out like that," I lied. Why did I just lie to her? Oh yeah, because if I tell her the truth, that I called and hung up on her, she'd think I was a freak.

"Okay… Well hold on a sec, I'll go get Emmett."

"Bella, wait," I practically shouted into the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Well… um… I… uh…" I stammered. Was I actually stammering?

"Spit it out, Edward," she sighed impatiently. That was a side of her I had never heard before. Usually, she only used that sort of tired, impatient tone with Emmett. It was kinda cute though.

"I didn't exactly… call… for Emmett." My palms started sweating as the conversation started to move in the direction I wanted it to.

"Hey, Bella, who is it, honey?" I heard Esme call to her.

"Um, it's no one Mom," she yelled back. I could tell she was trying to cover up the phone so as not to yell at me. Esme said something else but I couldn't hear. Bella started talking to me again.

"What do you mean you didn't call for Emmett? Why did you call?" She seemed annoyed as those words came out of her mouth. Her pink, full, luscious… No! Stop it, Ed. You're still on the phone with her.

"Well, I… called… totalktoyou." That last part came out so quickly I wasn't even sure I'd said it.

"Talk to _me_," she said as more of a statement rather than a question into the phone. Apparently, I had said it.

"Yes."

"Um… why… ?" she asked.

"Well, because… I was wondering… ifyoumaybewantedtogooutwithmetonight?" There was a long pause.

"You… _what_?" she asked. I took a deep breath before continuing.

"Bella, do you want to go out on a date with me tonight?" I couldn't believe how calmly I had asked that. I felt so confident. That is, until my question was followed by another long pause on her end. A few seconds later, I'm pretty sure I heard her gasp.

"Emmett is _so_ going down," I heard her whisper, whether I was supposed to hear or not.

"Bella?"

"Edward, it was nice and all for you to call, but you don't have to play along anymore. I understand if you were forced into this and you called against your will, or maybe not. Whatever. I have to go kill my brother now. Bye."

"Bella, wait!" But it was no use. The dial tone was already going. What just happened? Why had she said that Emmett was going down? Why did she think I was calling against my will, and just 'playing along'?

Then it hit me. Hard. But no… she couldn't. Bella couldn't possibly think that Emmett and I had been playing a joke on her… could she? All I did was place my head in my no-longer-sweaty palms and lean into the back of the chair, letting out a long, low, deep sigh.

**A/N**

**So what did you think? Personally, I really liked it. Probably more than the other chapters so far.**

**I know I said that I was going to keep everything in BPOV, but I just couldn't help myself. Just for future info, I might be doing that a lot. Just so you guys have a little bit of knowledge of what's going on inside Edward's head.**

**I would also like to take this time to thank some of my amazing reviewers, so far at least. They've given me good reviews, and some constructive criticism which I appreciate GREATLY! I love hearing people's opinions and thoughts on how I can always make this story better. So here they are, in no particular order:**

**RoGueSurfer**

**Curx2u**

**TwilightFan104**

**iloveEmmet**

**QueenSheba94**

**OECD**

**D4ni3ll3**

**Quiet Reader421**

**Appriates**

**Twicebitten**

**Justrememberhe prefersbrunets**

**xXxtwilightxXxmysteryX**

**Momentarily Infinite**

**Teeneypixie95**

**and**

**poetspie**

**Thank you all **_**so much**_**! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon.**

**Love you all.**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**

**-S.N.O.**


	6. Chapter Five: Jokes

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

**A/N**

**Just really quickly, The characters are Bella, Alice, Emmett, Carlisle, and Esme CULLEN. Edward Jr., Edward Sr., and Elizabeth MASEN. Rosalie, Jasper, Roger, and Daphne HALE. Just needed to clear that up for anyone that may have been confused, or skipped over the Background Info. Ok. Now on with Chapter Five!**

**-S.N.O.**

CHAPTER FIVE: JOKES

I decided that I would get back at Emmett by tattling on him. Not the tattling where I go running up to my parents screaming, "Mommy, Daddy, Emmett had Edward prank call me!" No. Definitely not like that. Instead I would take a more casual route. If you could call it casual. But it would cause him more of a punishment if my mom heard about it and, I don't know, say… grounded him… than it would be if I were to come up with something on my own.

I walked back into the living room to find everyone where I had left them. But I was more concerned with Emmett. I stared at him the whole way back to my chair by the window.

"So, Emmett. Guess who just called to ask me out on a date," I said matter-of-factly.

"Shouldn't you be talking about this with Alice? Not me?" he asked.

"Maybe. But I thought you'd be more interested."

"Okay… but do I really have to guess?"

"You shouldn't have to." He stared at me dumfounded, along with the rest of the family.

"What are you talking about?"

"That was Edward. Edward MASEN," I told him.

"Yeah, right. Why would Edward, Edward MASEN, call to ask you out on a date?" He laughed, proud of himself for mocking me. Immature baby.

"You should know why."

"Bella! I have no idea what you're talking about! Stop saying that I should know things that I don't! Just tell me, dammit!"

"Emmett, language!" Mom yelled at him. He just looked back at her with an apologetic smile.

"Em, don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about! You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!"

"Gah! Bella! NO. I. DO. NOT!" He really seemed frustrated with me. We all sat there for a minute, Emmett and I staring at each other, everyone else staring at both of us.

"So… you really had no idea that Edward was going to ask me out?" I asked him quietly.

"Absolutely none."

"Then… it wasn't a practical joke?"

"What?" he seemed confused. More so than usual.

"Well… I thought that… that…"

"Oh, Bella. Did you really think that I told Edward to call you and ask you out?"

"Um… yes?"

"How could you possibly think that?! No matter how much I don't like you guys dating my best friends, I would never do that to you! Either of you!" he said, looking back to Alice as well. "I can't believe you, Bella. I can't believe you would think I would do something like that." He sounded really upset and hurt at what I thought about him. I felt terrible as I watched him sink back down into the couch. He was right. How could I possibly think that he would try to do something like that to me? Gosh, I was such a horrible person. Such a horrible sister! Ugh.

"Emmett, I am so sorry," I said to him, walking over to sit next to him on the couch. "You're so right. I should have never thought you would do something like that."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have," he responded dryly.

I sighed. "I know. And again, I'm really, really, REALLY sorry." He turned his head away from me to look out the window. "Em, come on. Forgive me?" I gave him my prize-winning puppy-dog pout as soon as he turned back to face me. I dropped it, though, as soon as I saw the corners of his mouth starting to turn up.

"Okay, fine. I forgive you."

"Yay!" I squealed, probably louder than Alice. I threw my arms around his wide neck and he returned it with one of his bone-crushing bear hugs. "Thanks, Em," I told him.

When we finally let go, I started to make my way back over to the recliner, but Alice clearing her throat made me stop and turn around. "Ahem. Bella, where do you think you're going?" She asked me with her eyebrows raised.

"Um… to sit down and finish my invites?"

"Bella, Bella, Bella. As much as I love your commitment—" she paused to glance at Emmett, "to this project, you have something else you should be doing right now."

"Alice, what are you talking ab—" I paused when I saw her nod her head towards the kitchen. Actually, she was nodding more towards the phone _in_ the kitchen than the kitchen itself.

"I believe you have a call to make. Rather, a call to _return_," she told me. As I realized what she meant, I sighed and started to head back to the kitchen.

"Wait… where is she going?" Emmett asked Alice.

"I'm going to go call Edward back and apologize, Em," and I started walking back to the phone.

"But the phone is in the kitchen…"

"No, the phone is up in my room."

"Wait!" I heard Emmett call after me. I slowly turned around with my eyebrows raised, a look that said 'Hurry up, Emmett' on my face. "You're not going to say yes are you?" That confused me.

"Say yes to what?" I asked him.

"You know… to a date?" And with that, I shook my head furiously, smiling as I practically ran up the stairs to my bedroom.

"Does that mean you're not?!" Emmett called again to me.

I started pacing around my room as I tried to figure out what I was going to do. Surely I wasn't going to agree to a date with Edward. No. Absolutely not. I mean, come on. The kid is my brother's best friend. Alice may be into that sort of thing, but not me. I knew I was going to turn him down, but how? Maybe I didn't even have to mention the date. Maybe I could just call, apologize for thinking it was a prank, and then hang up. Maybe he would forget… Unlikely. But oh well. That was my plan, and I was sticking to it.

I crabbed my cordless phone off of its charger and took it over to sit in my green chair. I folded my legs up under me to sit down, and started scrolling through the recent calls list. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to call an unknown number back. But Edward's call from the other day was still listed, so I just called that number back instead.

I guess I should have 67ed it since he probably didn't want to talk to me after that last phone call. I wouldn't want to talk to me either. He didn't answer. So instead I just left a message.

"Hi, Edward. Um, it's Bella. Incase you didn't get that. Um, anyway I was just calling to say—"

"Bella? Hello?" He cut me off. I wondered how come my cell phone wasn't able to pick up during a message being left. I'd have to get whatever kind of phone he had. It was a pain to have to wait till the message was over, listen to it, and then call the person back.

"Uh, yeah. Hi," I said. I was starting to get nervous. Why was I getting so nervous? It's not like I was saying yes to his earlier proposal. I was just apologizing for being such a coo-coo banana head. _**(A/N- I LOVE Degrassi! If you watch it, you know that I got 'coo-coo bananas' from Manny.)**_

"Hi…" I couldn't tell if he was pleased for me to call back or something else.

"Um, Edward, listen," I started. "I am so sorry for assuming what I did. I had absolutely no right or reason to accuse you, and Emmett for that matter, of prank calling me. Again, I'm really sorry." I waited for his answer.

"It's cool, Bella. Don't worry about it," he replied, sounding oddly fine with it.

"Cool. Well, I guess I should get back to—"

"Hold on a sec, Bella." He cut me off again. Gosh, he seemed to have that tendency to interrupt people a lot, didn't he?

"Uh, yeah?" Oh, crap. I could see where this was going.

"Before you get back to whatever it is you were doing, can you do me a favor?"

"Um…" What kind of a favor? I thought to myself. "Yeah, sure… I, I guess so… What kind of a favor?"

"Could you please, uh, answer… my question?" Aw, man. He hadn't forgotten.

"What question?" I asked, trying to make it seem like I didn't remember.

"You know, the one I called you about in the first place?" I heard him chuckle slightly on the other end of the line. I didn't answer for a few seconds, trying to give the whole 'not remembering' thing a little more boost. "About a date?" he finally said.

"Oh, that question. Uh… I don't know Edward. I just got out of a relationship and I'm still getting over it." I could have sworn I heard him mumble something like "That's not what Emmett said" under his breath, but I couldn't be sure. "What was that?"

"Oh, um, nothing. I was just saying how I know about your break-up from Emmett. He told me a couple days ago." I laughed quietly.

"So that's how you knew it was safe to call me, huh?

"Well, yeah," he seemed embarrassed. I could almost see him blushing where ever he was.

"Look, Edward I—"

"Bella, I know I'm your brother's best friend and you're newly single and all, but…" He interrupted me again. Goodness, that boy REALLY needed to stop doing that or I was going to lose my mind.

"Edward, stop. First of all, you REALLY need to stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?"

"Interrupting me. Cutting me off every time I start to say something."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't really realize I was doing it."

"It's okay. Now second of all, yes. You ARE my brother's best friend, and I AM newly single. But that really doesn't have anything to do with it."

"I… don't… understand…" I heard him say.

"Look, Edward, you're a nice guy and I'm sure you'd be a fun guy to date, but… you're just… not my type. I'm sorry." To my surprise, he responded with a somewhat cheery attitude.

"Okay, fair enough. No date."

"Okay, cool. Well I'm gonna—"

"Hold on here. I'm sorry for interrupting, but I wasn't finished. So it was really like _you_ were interrupting _me_ this time, yeah? Anyway, like I was saying. We don't have to go on a date. That's fine. But, I do still want to get to know you a little bit more. I mean, really Bella. I've known you and your family for, what, almost ten years now? And I still hardly know anything about you." I just sat there on my couch contemplating what he had just said. Everything that I just heard was correct. We really didn't know anything about each other, even after knowing one another for like he said, almost ten years. I gave that a little thought before answering.

"I… guess that seems fair," I finally said.

"Really? Good. Cool. Okay. So, do you want to maybe do something tonight? Maybe go to City Plaza and just walk and talk, or get something to eat?" I thought it was cute how excited he sounded. I guess he really did like me. Oh well. That was NOT happening.

"Calm down, Edward. You're talking a little too fast for me."

"Oh, sorry." I giggled into the receiver.

"It's okay. But yeah, City Plaza sounds good. I guess I can just meet you there. No reason to give Emmett a heart attack and make him think we're…" I let the sentence fade as I realized something. Even though Emmett hadn't played a joke on me, it didn't mean that I couldn't play one on him…

"Actually, Edward, why don't you come pick me up here?"

"Bella, is there a specific reason why you suddenly just changed your mind?"

I explained to him about how I wanted to trick Emmett. He seemed to want to participate as well.

He was laughing on the other end of the line. "Yes! That would be hysterical. Oh man, he's gonna, like, die. Both of his sisters going out with both of his best friends? Whew. Sounds good to me." I couldn't believe how excited he was to play this joke on Emmett. If anything, I would have thought that he'd be against it, since he really did want to go out on a date with me. Whatever.

"Awesome. Okay, so Jasper is picking Alice up at 6, so why don't you come at around 6:30?"

"'Kay. Sounds good. I'll see you later, Bella."

"Hold on, Edward," I said before he could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"Well, just to be clear… this is not a date. In any way, shape or form. We're just going to go talk and maybe get food. Okay?"

"Yeah, Bella. I know. I'll see you at 6:30. Bye."

_Click._

"Bye." _Click._

Okay, so now it was time to put the plan in motion.

As soon as my phone was back on its stand, I bounded out of my room and down the first flight of stairs, nearly tripping over my super-long gray American Eagle sweats I had on. I had a huge, goofy, Emmett-style grin plastered as my face as I came back down into the living room. Alice was already done with her invitations and it was only 3:15. That little pixie can work _fast_. I still had about thirty more to go, and as if she read my mind, Alice picked up a few from my pile and started working on them. Emmett only had about fifteen, and Mom and Dad were nearly done.

"Why do you look so happy?" Dad asked me as I skipped back to my chair. Yes, skipped. I simply smiled a toothy smile and shrugged as I sat down Indian-style on the chair.

"Oh God, Bella what did you do?" Emmett asked me, fear in his voice.

I scolded him and replied, "_I_ didn't do anything, dear brother."

"DID YOU AGREE TO GO OUT WITH HIM?!" he boomed, jumping right off of the couch.

"I guess you'll find out tonight at 6:30." I was torturing him.

And I loved it.

Alice squealed and ran over to where I was sitting, throwing her arms around me.

"Awe, Bella you have a date! You have a DATE! Ah!" she screamed into my ear as Emmett stood up and burst his way into the kitchen.

"No, I don't," I whispered. When I said that, she pulled away and looked me in the eye, confusion everywhere on her face.

"What do you mean 'no, you don't'? You just told Emmett—"

"Alice. I know what I just told Emmett. But I will tell you later. Everything. Once we're done with all of this." I motioned to the pile of invitations at my feet. That only got her working even quicker. And I thought _that_ was an impossibility.

We were all completely finished by around 4:00, after Emmett had decided to come back and finish helping us. Every once in a while, he would mutter something under his breath along the lines of:

"Both sisters going out with my best friends." Or, "Traitors. All of them." It was actually very funny to see that my plan was working so well, but also got me kind of annoyed. None of us could understand why he hated the idea of his sisters dating his best friends so much. He had been dating Rosalie for a little over a year now, and we were always extremely supportive of their relationship, even when they first got together. He was being immensely hypocritical. Finally, Mom had had enough of his muttering.

"Emmett, stop being such a baby! There's absolutely no reason for you to be against your sisters going on dates with Edward and Jasper. I understand that they're your best friends and that it's weird and awkward. But look at you and Rosalie. She has been Alice's and Bella's best friend for as long as Jasper's been yours. They never had any problem with you two. None of us did. We've all supported your relationship since the day it started, so quit your whining and let it go."

We all sat there stunned for a few moments. Mom was never one to really yell, no matter how softly. So we all knew that as soon as that little lecture was over that she meant business. The only other thing I thought about was how right she was.

Alice and I got ready for our dates together, even though mine wasn't really a date. As soon as we had finished cleaning everything up in the living room, Alice had pulled me by the wrist up the stairs and to her room, which was right across the hall from mine.

The only similarity between our rooms was the bedroom and bathroom sizes. Everything else was completely different. Alice didn't have a wall that was entirely made out of glass, like I did. So all of her walls were painted a deep, navy blue color. The crown molding around the room was painted a hot pink color, which complemented the blue walls nicely. She had a large, king-sized bed in the center of the back wall, and it was made out of the most deliciously scented cherry wood on Earth. It had tall posts on all four corners that held a hot pink mesh canopy above the navy blue-and-hot-pink-plaid bed comforter. Her carpet was as lush and soft as mine, only it was as white as you could get. She never let anyone come in with food, drinks, or their shoes on so as not to get it dirty. All of her other bedroom furniture- nightstand, dresser, vanity, bookshelf- were the same kind of wood as the bed. Even though the entire south wall wasn't glass, she had a huge window in the center. Next to it was a white leather loveseat. If you thought her bedroom was amazing, you haven't seen her closet and bathroom. Yes, closet, too. It was almost the size of her room. She had so many clothes and shoes and accessories and they were all perfectly kept and organized. We had to have the walls pushed back just to fit everything. Her bathroom was the same layout as mine, only different colors. Where my cabinets were green with purple lining, hers were navy with hot pink lining. Where my tub and walls were purple and green splatter-painted, hers were hot pink and navy splatter-painted. And she had a hot pink shower curtain.

Once we were in her room, she had sat me down onto the bed and then sat down next to me. I had told her all about my conversation with Edward and then how we were playing the practical joke on Emmett. She thought it was complete genius and was mad for not thinking of it herself. Of course, she didn't need to because she was already going on a real date with Jasper.

Alice had insisted that I get ready as if for an actual date "…just so we give Em the full effect that you actually are." I didn't bother arguing with her. She would eventually win, anyway.

We were all set and ready to go at promptly 5:50, ten minutes before Jasper was supposed to come and pick Alice up. She had dressed me in a light pink halter top that had a thick elastic band right under the bust, then flowed out and down to a few inches below my hips. She also put me in the tightest and lowest jeans I've ever even seen before. I had no idea how those had gotten in my closet. Sneaky little pixie. I was wearing inch-and-a-half high white slip-on heels. Even though they weren't that high, combined with the jeans and flattering top I looked at least three inches taller.

She had straightened my hair to perfection, leaving no frizz or static whatsoever. I was wearing light make-up that highlighted my natural features nicely, and the matching necklace and bracelet set that I had gotten from my parents, along with my Volvo, for my sixteenth birthday earlier this year. They both had white gold chains or links. The necklace had a single heart-shaped sapphire hanging from the chain, and the bracelet had several hanging as tiny little charms from its links. It was the absolute most gorgeous jewelry set I had ever seen in my life, and I wore it nearly every day.

I had to admit, I looked really good. The figure in the mirror didn't even look like me. Oh, we were going to get Emmett good.

Alice didn't look half bad either. She was dressed in a form-fitting deep purple shirt-dress that had thick shoulder straps, over dark wash skinny jeans. The bottoms of the jeans fell over her lavender three-and-a-half inch heels beautifully. Her short hair was spiked to perfection and she was sporting smokey eyes.

While we were doing last minute touch-ups, we heard the doorbell ring. Alice jumped and I could almost feel her heart start racing. Was she actually nervous about her date with Jasper? She never got nervous before dates. That was strange. We both walked downstairs together, seeing as I would be leaving soon anyway. I went into the living room and plopped myself down in the recliner with this month's Seventeen magazine. **(A/N- I get Seventeen every single month. I absolutely love it. So I decided that Bella does too.)** I heard Jasper tell Alice how beautiful she looked as she opened the door to let him in. All she did in response was giggle flirtatiously. The door shut and they both made their way into the living room.

"Hey, Jasper," I said to him.

"Hey, Bella. Nice to see you," he responded politely.

"You too." We both gave a simple and polite smile.

"Hey, Bell we're gonna go. I have my phone if anyone needs me. And have fun with Edward," Alice told me with a wink, as she turned on her heel leading Jasper to the door.

"Wait, what about having fun with Edward?" Jasper asked her. She giggled again.

"I'll tell you on the way over. Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" and with that, they were out the door on their way to their dinner date. No doubt Alice would tell Jasper everything I had told her, leaving out absolutely no details.

I read the entire magazine before Edward came to pick me up. I kept glancing at the clock next to our 63" plasma television every two minutes. Why was I so nervous? It wasn't even a date. All we were doing was going out for dinner to talk and get to know each other. That was it.

I jumped when the doorbell rang at precisely 6:30. Wow, he sure was punctual. I sprang up and went to get the door. When I opened it, I had to try extremely hard to keep my mouth from hitting the floor. Edward looked incredible. He was dressed in a simple royal blue, short-sleeved polo shirt that showed off his not-too-huge muscles nicely. He was wearing light wash faded jeans and clean white K-Swiss sneakers. His hair was tussled into a perfect mess, and his emerald eyes looked as beautiful as ever. Why had I said no to a date with him? Not my type? Please, what was I _thinking_? Oh yeah, I was thinking that he's my brother's best friend and Jacob and I just broke up.

"Hey, Bella. You look great," he greeted me with a beautiful crooked grin.

"Thanks. You do, too." I smiled back.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Um, yeah hold on. Let me just get my purse then we can go." I took off towards the kitchen, leaving the door wide open so he would know that it was okay to come in. Mom was at the stove cooking dinner. I grabbed my purse from the counter and gave her a quick kiss goodbye. "Bye, Mom. I'll be home by eleven."

"Okay honey, have fun," she told me with a wink.

When I came back out into the living room, I found Edward and Emmett talking on the sofa. I think I heard Emmett saying something like, "You better not hurt her, dude. She's my little sister." And Edward was just sitting there like, 'yeah, I know, I know.'

"Okay, you ready Edward?" I asked.

"Yep. Later, Emmett," he said with a wave. Once we were outside, I thought to myself, _Okay, fun's over. Now time to get to know Edward Masen._

**A/N**

**Yeah, I know that was long. And I'm so proud of myself! 7 and a half pages! YAY!! There's something about this chapter that I really like. It just makes me smile every time I read it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the next chapter, the date chapter, in Edward's POV. I think the guy just needs his thoughts to be heard, don't you?**

**Again, I'm going to thank all of my ****awesome**** reviewers!!**

**Edwardluver925**

**Abbie-Edward-forever**

**Vampirelover13**

**Mrs.SophieCullen**

**RoGueSurfer**

**Curx2u**

**TwilightFan104**

**iloveEmmet**

**QueenSheba94**

**OECD**

**D4ni3ll3**

**Quiet Reader421**

**Appriates**

**Twicebitten**

**Justrememberhe prefersbrunets**

**xXxtwilightxXxmysteryX**

**Momentarily Infinite**

**Teeneypixie95**

**poetspie**

**Thank you all again!! **

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**

**-S.N.O.**


	7. AUTHOR'S NOTE

A/N

A/N

Real quick guys, some of you have asked when the next chapter will be up.

It's still a work in progress, so most likely, Chapter 6:Date Night will be put up and published either tonight, and I mean LATE tonight, or tomorrow, probably around noon or so.

If it takes a little longer, I'm sorry. I just really want to get Edward's POV just right. He's a very complex guy.

Alright, so that's it for now. Keep checking back to see the next update.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!

-S.N.O.


	8. Chapter Six: Date Night

**DISCLAIMER****: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

CHAPTER SIX: DATE NIGHT

When Bella answered the door, it took all the strength I had in me not to let my jaw drop to the floor. She looked absolutely stunning. The light pink halter top really flattered her skin tone and figure, as did those amazing jeans. So instead of jumping her bones right there and then, I simply smiled my famous lopsided grin and said casually, "Hey, Bella. You look great."

"Thanks. You do too," she responded with a gorgeous smile of her own.

"You ready to go?" I asked her.

"Um, yeah hold on. Let me just get my purse and then we can go," she said, taking off into the kitchen. She left the door hanging wide open, so I took that as her way of telling me it was okay to come in. I walked in, shut the door, and waited by the stairs.

"Edward, dude. What's up?" Emmett greeted me from behind, slapping me on the back.

"Hey, man. Just waiting for you sister," I told him back. Honestly, I really didn't want to go through with this whole Bella just going out with me to play a joke on Emmett thing. But I couldn't really complain; Any chance I got to spend time with Bella, I would take.

"Cool, cool. So hey, let's chat for a second before you go." Oh, man. He was gonna give me the talk about how to treat his sister right. Sure enough that's what he did. He led me over to the couch in the living room and started saying things like,

"You're my best friend and all, but she's my little sister. You hurt her, I hurt you. No questions asked." It was quite funny, actually. But did he seriously think that I would ever hurt Bella? Scratch that: ever hurt _anyone_? Especially Bella? Even if this was just a get-to-know-you outing instead of an actual date.

"Yeah, Emmett. I know. You don't have anything to worry about," I assured him.

Just as I finished that last sentence, Bella came back in the room, purse in hand.

"Okay, you ready Edward?" she asked. I immediately stood from the couch.

"Yep. Later, Emmett," I said, waving bye to him. As soon as we were outside, I couldn't help being excited. _Okay, the fun part's over. Time to get to know Bella._

I led her to my car, a black 2007 Infinity M45. I got it for my sixteenth birthday, and it was my baby. I held the passenger door open for her, and she slid in smoothly, a 'thanks' smile playing on her lips. I closed the door and walked around to get in on the driver's side. As soon as we were both buckled and the keys were in the ignition, I headed back down the long driveway, and I mean LONG driveway, and back onto the main road.

"May I?" she asked, motioning to the radio power button.

"Yeah, sure," I replied.

As soon as she pushed it on, the entire car was filled with the blasting music that I forgot I had playing on the drive over.

"Sorry about that!" I apologized, turning down the volume dial.

"It's no problem. Is that… Claire de Lune?" she asked curiously. I glanced at her with wide eyes.

"You know Debussy?" I asked her. _**(A/N- I know everyone uses those lines, but I couldn't help it. It made for good conversation!)**_ She nodded and smiled lightly, embarrassed.

"My mom likes to play it around the house a lot. Usually when she's cleaning or painting or something like that. I guess it's just kind of grown on me," she replied with a shrug. "Alice tolerates it. Emmett hates it though," she said, scrunching up her nose. I laughed at that: both the Emmett hating it thing and her facial expression.

"Yeah, I can't really picture Emmett being into the classical stuff," I told her. She laughed. It sounded like beautiful wind chimes.

"Well, if there's one thing I know about my brother, it's that he's never been one for art or the classics."

"That is very true," I said, smiling at her.

The rest of the drive was pretty much the same: just talking about other kinds of music we enjoy, how we came to like it and who in our family can actually tolerate it. When we got to City Plaza, Bella asked where we were going.

"You'll see when we get there, Miss Impatient."

"Hey, buddy. I am NOT impatient. Well, not right now at least." We both let out a small chuckle. I got out and opened her door for her, same as last time. "Thank you, kind sir," she said playfully as I helped her out.

"My pleasure," I joked back.

She stopped short when we approached the restaurant. "Something wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh um, no. No I'm fine," she sounded unsure of something though.

"Do you not like Italian?"

"No, no, I do. And I'm _starving_. Let's just go inside," she told me with a weary smile.

"Welcome, to La Bella Italia. Table for two?" the hostess asked politely.

"Yes, please," I responded. She grabbed two menus and led Bella and I to a small booth towards the back. The lighting was dim, as it was in the entire restaurant. The booth seats were extremely comfortable and cushiony. However, I was kind of upset that I wouldn't be able to pull a chair out for Bella. Even if this wasn't a real date, it would still be good to let her know how much of a gentleman I am. We took our seats and the hostess handed us our menus.

"Your server will be with you in a moment," she said with a wink before heading back to the podium at the entrance. I nearly gagged.

Bella still looked a little unsure of something and she was looking cautiously around the restaurant. I decided to ask her again.

"Bella," I called her back to attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… um… well, this is a really expensive restaurant. I don't want you spending a lot of money on me for a fake date." My heart crumbled as she assured me this wasn't a real date, even though I knew it was. She still seemed like something was wrong. I wasn't convinced that the expensiveness of the restaurant was her only concern with us eating here.

"Bella, I've got plenty of money. Don't worry about it." She smiled lightly and looked down at her menu.

"Now do you want to talk about what's really bothering you?" that caught her off guard. She looked up at me immediately with her eyes wide.

"Wha… what? What are you talking about? Nothing's bothering me," she stammered.

"Bella, I'm not stupid. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. Just let me know that you're not really concerned with the cost." She looked away. I took that as a confirmation. But it hurt me to see how upset she was. "Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"No. No, it's fine. You're right. I'm not really all that concerned with the cost, even though I still can't believe you couldn't pick a cheaper place," she said trying to lighten the mood a little. "It just… brings back some memories being here. That's all." That wasn't all. I could see right through her. So I waited for her to continue, which took a few moments.

"Well you see I—" she started, but was interrupted.

"Hey there, I'm Tanya and I'll be your server for this evening. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?" Tanya was a tall, strawberry blonde with some kind of wicked grin on her face as she looked only at me. Why did she have to come right when Bella was about to tell me what was bothering her? Curses.

"Um, I'll take a Diet Coke. Bella?"

"Make that two, please," she told Tanya, who was already turning away to go back to the kitchen.

"So… what were you saying?" I asked her, hopeful.

"Oh, right. Uh, well… I used to come here a lot. With... Jacob…" she told me.

"Ah, I see," I said, understanding why she felt so uncomfortable eating here. "Bella, we don't have to st—" Tanya came back with our drinks, cutting me off. Damn waitress had really bad timing.

"Here you go, sunshine," she said, handing me my soda. "Here," she said dryly to Bella. I thanked her, turning back to Bella. Hopefully Tanya would take that as a hint to go away and let us get back to our conversation.

She didn't.

"So do you want to start off with any appetizers, or are you ready to order?" she asked in a voice that sounded like it was supposed to be seductive.

"Actually, we need another minute or two to decide," I told her without taking my eyes off of Bella's.

"Sure." She walked away to go take care of another table.

"So like I was saying, we don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable or something," I explained to her.

"No, Edward it's fine. I'm fine. Everything's okay." Just then, Tanya was back, pen and paper in hand, ready to take our orders.

"On second thought…" we both whispered.

"Tanya, don't even bother asking. We're leaving." I placed a five dollar bill on the table for the drinks and the tip that she didn't deserve. Tanya just stood there stunned as Bella and I made our way out of the booth and out of La Bella Italia.

Once we were back on the sidewalk, we both started bursting out in laughter, clutching our sides and stumbling around, not able to keep our balance. If someone were to walk by, no doubt would they think that we'd had a little too much to drink.

"Did… you… see… her face?" I asked Bella between laughs.

"Oh my God, yes!" she said back.

"PRICELESS!" we both shouted at the same time. That only made us laugh harder. We started to calm our laughter as we made our way back to my car. Again, I held her door open for her and then got in on my side and drove off.

"Okay… now that that's over…" I started.

"Where do you want to go?" she finished.

"I'm fine with whatever you want." I told her, glancing at her with a smile.

"So, if I wanted raw fish, and I mean RAW fish, like just-came-out-of-the-ocean fish, doused in strawberry ice cream with… steak fat and… uncooked bacon… would you eat that?" she joked. I made a disgusted face and quickly glanced at her again. She was looking back at me trying to force back a smile.

"Would _you_ eat that?" I asked. She just laughed her beautiful laugh and turned back to look out the windshield window.

"That wasn't the question. If I wanted it, would you get it and eat it with me?"

"Well, you are my date… well, not a DATE, but you get it…" I recovered. "…so if that's what you wanted, no matter how grotesque, yes. I would get it and eat it with you."

"Edward Masen, you truly are amazing," she told me, shaking her head and smiling. I couldn't help but let an enormous grin spread across my face.

We drove around for a long while, just talking and laughing. Everything was fine, until we heard both of our stomachs rumbling.

"Edward…" she began.

"Yeah?"

"There's a rumbly in my tumbly." We both burst into giggles at the Whinnie the Pooh reference.

"Yeah, I know. Mine too. So where do you want to eat?"

"Um, I don't know. It's getting kind of late. As much as I detest it, I guess we should just go get some fast food or something," she replied.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm no fan of it either…" I told her.

"Yeah I'm sure. Just don't let me get a burger. Blech." She made a face at the thought of eating a hamburger from a fast food restaurant. I did too.

"Deal. So are you okay with Wendy's? There's one a few blocks from here, I think." We were a few minutes away from City Plaza, really not having gone that far from it. We were pretty much just going in circles.

"Yeah, sure," she said.

When we got to the Wendy's, it was surprisingly packed. It was 8:00 and almost every table was taken. _I really don't want to take this back to eat in the car_, I thought to myself. Then I suddenly spotted an open table in the back corner.

"Bella, go get that table in the back there," I told her, pointing to where it was. She nodded, and started working her way back to it. "Hold on," I stopped her. "What do you want to eat?"

She chuckled and replied with, "Yeah, I guess you might need to know that, huh?" I laughed along with her for a moment. "Um, I guess just a grilled chicken sandwich."

"You got it," I promised her.

"Oh, and a large French fries," she added.

"Large?" Just when I asked, her stomach rumbled. She placed a hand on it and looked back up to meet my eyes.

"I think a large is necessary," she told me.

"I think so, too. Now, what to drink?"

"Hm… medium Diet Coke. No, wait. A Frosty. Chocolate," she changed her mind, licking her lips. I nodded my head and stepped in line, then motioned for her to go grab the table before someone else did.

The line moved shockingly quickly, and before I could say "Bella is the most amazing girl in the world", I was up to order.

"One grilled chicken sandwich with a large fry, one ten-piece chicken nugget with a medium fry, one chocolate Frosty, and one medium Diet Coke, please," I said to the cashier. I handed her a twenty dollar bill, received my cash and a receipt, and moved over to wait for my food.

"Order 562, grilled chicken, ten-piece nugget, medium and large fry, Frosty, medium soda!" someone from behind the counter announced.

"Yeah, that's me," I told him. Once I got the tray, I headed back to the table to find Bella clutching her stomach and bouncing her leg. Clearly, she was impatient when she was hungry. "Here we are, milady," I said to her, setting the tray down on the table.

"Oh food!" She practically yelled it. She paused as soon as she looked at the fries and sandwich in front of her.

"What is it?" I asked her, pausing before sitting down.

"Ketchup. I need ketchup." She started to get up from her seat but I held up a hand.

"No, you stay here. I'll go get it." She smiled to thank me then told me to get a lot, that she would need it. She was so cute when she was hungry.

I returned with a dozen packets of ketchup and sat down to begin eating. As we ate, we continued to talk about all kinds of things; movies, our families, and stuff along those lines. At one point, she decided we should play a game.

"What kind of game…?" I asked cautiously.

"The Favorites Game," she said as if I should know what that meant. "Oh come on, Edward, you have to know the Favorites Game." I just shook my head from side to side slowly as she sighed and began to explain it to me.

"Okay. One person asks the other what their favorite something-or-other is. The other person has to respond with only one thing, maybe two at most."

"That's not much of a game…"

"No, but it's a way to get to know each other better." That convinced me.

"Okay. I'll start. What's your favorite color?"

"Green and purple. Yours?"

"Gold and royal blue. Favorite animal?" We went on and on like that for a long time, even when we were long passed finished with our meals. At first we only asked the basic questions: favorite color, animal, store, state, stuff like that. Then it totally changed direction as we got into more… complex, and… mature favorites. I'll spare the details on those ones. _**(A/N- i really didn't feel like putting in some really awkward Q&A. But you guys are smart; use your imaginations!)**_ But it was so easy to talk to Bella. I found out a lot about her at dinner. _Why didn't I think to do this sooner?_ I mentally scolded myself. She was such a great person and I was pissed that we hadn't become friends a long time ago.

When we had finally run out of favorites to ask each other about, it was about 9:30. Wendy's was just about empty now, and we decided to go. It would take a little over forty-five minutes to get back to her house, seeing how we went a little bit farther out from switching food sources. On the ride home, we blasted the radio and sang along with whatever words we knew, which weren't many. We were getting along so great and we were truly having a lot of fun. Bella was really sarcastic, just like me, and that made for some very interesting conversations. _**(A/N- again, use your imaginations!)**_

Once we were back at her house, I reluctantly got out and opened her door for her. I was having such a good time and I just didn't want it to end. I walked her back up to the front door.

"Hey, Bella?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"I had a really good time with you tonight. I'm kind of mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner," I admitted, looking down at my feet.

"I know. I had fun, also. You're really cool. How were we never this close until tonight?" she asked without letting her eyes leave my face. I looked back up and let out a light chuckle.

"I don't know. And I'm over here all the time," I said.

"Yeah, you are." There was a long pause after that.

"So, maybe… do you want to…" If only she could know how badly I wanted to go on a date with her. Not a get-to-know-you outing thing. An actual, real life, dinner-and-a-movie date.

"Edward, stop," she said before I could finish my question. I just looked at her before she continued. The corners of her mouth were starting to curl up, and she answered, "I would love to go on a date with you." I stood there in shock, my eyes wide, as she said those words. Did that really just happen? Did Bella just agree to go on a date with me? Did Bella just say she'd _love_ to go on a date with me? I felt as if the Date Gods had finally answered my prayers.

"Call me," she commanded, pulling me out of my currently going wild mind. "Goodnight, Edward," she said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. Then she opened the door, and was gone. I felt my hand slowly rise up to feel the burning spot on my cheek where she had kissed me, and I couldn't help smiling like a… like a… I didn't know what I was smiling like, but it was a huge smile.

"Goodnight, Bella."

**A/N**

**Sooooo what did you guys think? Again, I loved it. But hey, I'm the author. I'm entitled to love it. ****7 pages again, YAY!**

**I know, I said it wouldn't be posted for a while, but once I started the chapter, I couldn't stop! I'm on a roll, gosh darn it!**

**I've already mentally outlined pretty much everything that's going to happen in chapters 7 and 8. But once I'm started on an idea, I REALLY get started on an idea.**

**Chapter Seven should be up probably sometime tomorrow. Even though I'm on a hot streak, my hand is starting to cramp up from typing so much. So I'm just gonna keep brainstorming.**

**Once again, here are my **_**awesome**_** reviewers!**

**Jasper Loves Alice**

**Leah Fayye**

**TeamEdward16290**

**guardgirl414**

**sli723**

**twilight lover122**

**unknown artist x3**

**chocomel26**

**Edwardluver925**

**Abbie-Edward-forever**

**Vampirelover13**

**Mrs.SophieCullen**

**RoGueSurfer**

**Curx2u**

**TwilightFan104**

**iloveEmmet**

**QueenSheba94**

**OECD**

**D4ni3ll3**

**Quiet Reader421**

**Appriates**

**Twicebitten**

**Justrememberhe prefersbrunets**

**xXxtwilightxXxmysteryX**

**Momentarily Infinite**

**Teeneypixie95**

**Poetspie**

**Love you all soooo much! Remember, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**-S.N.O.**


	9. Chapter Seven: LoveFest

CHAPTER SEVEN: LOVE-FEST

After I had gone back inside and closed the door, I couldn't help but think what the HECK had gotten into me?! I just agreed to go on a date with Edward Cullen, super hottie and my brother's best friend. Then I proceeded to KISS him! Even though it was on his cheek, I had still kissed him. I had never done that! When I felt the corners of my mouth starting to pull up into a smile, I didn't know whether it was because I was going on a date with Edward, or because I thought it funny that I kissed him.

I shook my head, still smiling, and stepped into the living room. I dropped my purse down on the couch and then dropped myself down next to it. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the wall. All of the sudden I heard someone bounding down the stairs laughing hysterically. I knew that laugh.

Alice.

What was she doing home so early? She usually stayed out a lot later on dates, especially first dates. Oh, poor Alice. Maybe Jasper wasn't as special as she'd thought. Oh, wait, what am I saying? Poor Alice? More like poor me! I was the one that was about to get attacked with questions about tonight. I decided to pretend I didn't hear her coming and continued to keep my eyes closed and my head against the wall.

"Don't think I don't know you heard me," she stated, coming over to sit with me on the couch. I sighed, lifting my head and turning to her. She had some kind of goofy smile plastered on her face. "… and don't think I didn't see that little smoochy-smooch you planted on Edward." My eyes nearly popped out of my skull as she said that.

"Alice what are you—" I started.

"I couldn't help but look out my bedroom window as soon as I heard his car pull up." She shrugged. I let my mouth hang open as I realized she had been spying on us. That entire time, Alice was spying on us! Ugh, the nerve of that girl.

"You were _watching_ us?! ALICE! Ever heard of _privacy_?!" I yelled at her.

"I couldn't resist, Bella! And it was so CUTE!"

"Hey, what's all the commotion about, girls?" I heard Mom ask. I turned towards the kitchen as she came out, hands on her hips. She never liked when her children would yell at each other.

"Bella kissed Edward!" Alice squealed.

"You did? Oh, Bella, that's so cute!" Mom replied, clasping her hands together and smiling giddily.

"That's what I said!" Alice said, jumping up and down on the couch.

"I did NOT kiss him, Alice! It was just a little goodnight peck on the cheek. Just a 'thank you' gesture, nothing special," I assured them both.

"Oh yeah?" Alice asked, raising one eyebrow at me suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"Then why did you guys make plans to go out on another date?" She asked, grinning wickedly.

"Alice! You were _eavesdropping_ on us too?! I can't believe you!"

"WHAT?!" I heard Emmett's booming voice yell from around the kitchen door at the same time I screamed 'Alice!' "_I_ can't believe _you_, Bella!"

"Emmett, stop," Mom told him fiercely.

"Ugh, how can you guys do this to me?!" he growled before stomping back up the stars to his second-story bedroom.

"He'll come around eventually, honey," Mom assured me. "I'm going to be hanging pictures in my room, so you girls feel free to chat all you want," she said before winking and walking off into she and Dad's master suite.

"Come on Bella. You have a lot to discuss," Alice announced. She grabbed my wrist and yanked me off of the couch, then dragged me upstairs and into my room.

She nearly slammed the door behind her, and then we both sat down on my bed. I grabbed my favorite purple Moshi pillow and squeezed it tight to my chest. She began by asking where we went.

"Um… well… first he took me to… La Bella Italia…" Alice knew all about how Jake and I would go there constantly, that is, on the rare occasion that we'd see each other. As soon as I said it, her eyes grew wide and I could tell what was going through her mind.

"Oh, wow. That must have been… awkward," she said.

"Oh it was. And then the damn waitress kept flirting with him. It was disgusting. And she kept waggling her eyebrows and trying to sound sexy. She just sounded like a drowning bear with a bad cold," I was surprised at how badly I was speaking of Tanya, even if all of it was true. Alice busted out laughing, though.

"A drowning bear with a bad cold. That's good, Bell! I never knew you could be so cruel!" She continued laughing for a good two minutes.

"Okay, Al. You can stop laughing now," I finally told her. She muffled her giggles then began speaking again.

"So you sound like you were pretty jealous of how the waitress was flirting with Edward, huh?"

"What? No, I wasn't jealous. It was just extremely annoying." I knew that my suddenly burning cheeks would give me away, though.

"Uh huh. Sure. I mean, I can't blame you. I would be jealous too if some bimbo waitress was flirting with my utterly gorgeous date," she said, twirling her hair around her index finger.

"Alice, it wasn't a date," I told her sternly. She just rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, sure it wasn't."

Speaking of tonight's dates…

"Hey wait, why are you home so early?" I asked her.

"I wanted to leave Jasper wanting more. Make him want to ask me out again. No biggie," she said, shrugging her shoulders like it really was nothing.

"Ok okay. So how was your date with him? Where'd you guys go?"

"Oh, Bella it was amazing. We went to the beach where he had a picnic set up. There were candles, and pillows and blankets, and it was wonderful." She had a gleam of affection in her eyes as she talked about her date with Jasper. I could tell he was going to be something special, not like all the other guys Alice dated. The ones that were scum and rotten and mistreated her. Like Mike Newton. Ugh, had that been a bust. It was such an awful date that none of us dare mention the name at all. I shivered at the memory. But this was not going to be like that. I had always known that Jasper had some kind of thing for Alice. He would always smile at her when he saw her, then blush as he realized he was smiling at her. It was adorable.

Alice finally came back to the present and turned all of her attention back to me. Wonderful.

"Don't think you're getting off so easily, Bell. What happened on the rest of the date?"

I told her about how we ditched La Bella Italia, drove around for a while, and then all about our late dinner meal at Wendy's. I didn't bother mentioning the favorites game; that would just be awkward telling my sister about those weird conversations Edward and I had had, no matter how close Alice and I were. I finished with when we drove back up to the house and I agreed to go on an actual date with him, which Alice already knew, of course. I caught Alice smiling mischievously at me when I was done. I eyed her carefully.

"What are you smiling at?" I asked.

"You," she replied, still grinning.

"Why?"

"Because you are so totally in love with Edward. Oh, you two are going to have the most gorgeous babies. OH! Can I plan your bachlorette party and your wedding?!" she screamed, clapping her hands giddily.

"Alice, whoa, whoa, slow down! No one's having babies, and no one is getting married!" I yelled to her.

"Maybe not now, you're not. But one day…" She let the sentence fade. I was too tired to argue with her so I just responded by saying, "Sure, Alice. Whatever you say." Just then, we heard a large crash and then an even louder yell come from downstairs. Alice and I both looked at each other with scared expressions, then ran out of my room and down both flights of stairs.

"What the hell was that?" she whisper-yelled to me.

"Like I know? I was with you the whole time!" I whisper-yelled back. When we got downstairs, we saw Emmett jumping up and down, holding his right foot in pain, while we saw his iPod speakers on the floor, broken into three large pieces.

Alice and I burst out in laughter, clutching our sides, as we figured out what must have happened. Emmett dropped the speakers on his foot. It took a lot to hurt Emmett, let alone make him scream in pain, so that just made the sight before us even more shocking and hilarious.

"What's going on in…" Mom started to ask when she walked into the living room. When she saw Emmett jumping around, she brought her hand up to her mouth, probably trying to hide her laughter.

"This is NOT funny!" Emmett boomed at all three of us. "If it weren't for you two, I wouldn't have needed to escape to my music and drop the damn speakers on my foot!" What he was saying made absolutely no sense, and that just made us laugh all too much harder. Alice and I were on the floor now, still grabbing at our aching sides. I looked at her, raising my eyebrows asking permission if it was okay to tell Emmett now. She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded her head, smiling from ear to ear.

"What's going on?" Emmett asked. I got up off of the floor and pulled my shirt back down from where it had risen from my rolling around.

"Hey, Em. I have a c-c-confession to m-make," I got out between giggles.

"What confession?" He sounded angry and frustrated all at the same time. I bit my lip to keep from smiling, and slid my shoes off. You'll know why in just a second.

"Well, this date between me and Edward tonight…" I started.

"Yeah…?"

"Well, it wasn't a real date." I couldn't help smiling now.

"What do you mean it wasn't a real date?" he asked, furrowing his brow in frustration and confusion. I could see his face starting to get red.

"We just went out to dinner as friends to get to know each other. We just told you it was a date to make you mad." And mad he was.

"WHAT?!" He yelled. "You… tricked me… to make me mad?" He started inching closer to me, and I inched back.

"I, uh… guess it worked?" I asked, smirking at him.

"Oh, no. It didn't work at all!" And with that, he lunged at me, and I ran into the kitchen, thankful for taking off my heels, or else I would have fallen within seconds. He followed me, screaming a string of profanities at me. I could faintly hear Mom yelling at him from the living room to stop using such bad language. I'm pretty sure he heard too, just didn't want to listen.

I was laughing hysterically as Emmett chased me around the cooking island in the kitchen four times, back out to the living room, around the living room coffee table three times, all the way upstairs to my room, back down, and back up again. I couldn't believe how much energy I had. He finally caught me when I tripped running back up the stairs. He grabbed my waist and held my wrists tight in one of his hands. We were both panting from being so out of breath. After a good few seconds of sitting on the step, we looked at each other… and then started giggling. Well, chuckling in Emmett's case. Those giggles and chuckles soon turned into fits of giggles and chuckles, and then turned into full on laughter. I rested my hand and head on his huge shoulder and shut my eyes as I tried to control my laughing. He just wrapped both arms around me and hugged me, still sitting on the stairs.

"Don't… ever… p-p-piss me off-f-f like th-that ag-gain," he stuttered between laughs.

"D-don't worry, I wo-won't." We stood up, and carefully walked back down the steps, carefully so we didn't fall down from laughter again.

"So, does that mean you guys don't really have plans for another date?" he asked as we got back to the couch in the living room.

"Uh, not exactly…" I peeked up at his face slowly. He didn't seem at all mad now.

"I… I guess… that it's okay." I looked at him with an annoyed look on my face. Like I needed his permission. Pft, please.

"Not that you need my permission anyway…" he quickly recovered. "I just meant that I'm okay with it. I'm not gonna give you… or you" he turned to look at Alice, who was just standing next to Mom smiling, "a hard time about it anymore. You guys can date whoever you want to date. But if they're no good, whether they're my best friends or not, I'll beat the crap out of them."

"Aw, thanks Em! That's so sweet," I said mockingly.

"Yeah, Em. It makes me feel so good that you're willing to beat up your best friends for us," Alice said in the same tone. She walked over to the couch and lay down across both of our laps, her head on mine, the rest of her body sprawled out over Emmett's. It was times like these when I loved my family the most. The way we could make jokes and laugh and smile and have a good time with each other was the best thing in the world. And I could tell that Mom was thinking the same thing as I looked over and saw her leaning against the fireplace with her arms crossed over her chest, admiring the scene that she was currently witnessing.

"Mommy, come here," I called to her, holding out the arm that wasn't crushed under Alice's head.

"Yeah Mom, get over here and join the loooove," Emmett said. Mom uncrossed her arms and ran over to the couch and plopped down beside Emmett. She linked her arm through his and lay her head down on his shoulder. Just then, Dad walked in the door, already starting to unbutton his coat. I guess he had a late call at the hospital. I hadn't even realized he wasn't home.

"Well, well, well. What's going on in here?" he asked with mock suspicion.

"Just a little family love-fest," Alice told him, picking her head up from my lap to look at him.

"Well, would you mind if I joined this little family love-fest?" he asked. I answered first.

"No, Dad. Just because you're part of the family doesn't mean we want you to join in the fun. Gosh, why would you ever thing we would want you to?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes and turning away.

"Oh, you always have such a way with words, my sarcastic little girl." He smiled at me and came over to sit with me on the couch. "Oh wait!" he exclaimed, jumping up from the couch.

"What is it, dear?" Mom asked. He held up a finger and then disappeared into the kitchen. He came back a few moments later, digital camera in hand **(pic on profile)**.

"Christmas photo," he announced. We all let out a little laugh as he tried to figure out how to set up the self-timer on the brand-new Nikon. He finally got it set up on top of the fireplace mantle, and ran back over to take his place on the couch next to me once he saw the little red light flashing.

"Okay, everyone. Smile!" Mom told us.

_Flash. _Wow, that camera sure had a bright flash on it. Just as Dad went back up to review the picture that had just been taken, I felt my cell phone vibrating in my jeans pocket. I nearly screamed when I saw the caller ID.

**A/N**

**Ooooo cliffhanger. I think that's my first one so far! Woot! Any ideas as to who was calling Bella's cell? Anyway, what did you guys think of the chapter? It started out a little rocky in my opinion, but I couldn't help smiling at the rest.**

**I'm not going to name all of my amazing reviewers this time, just because there are so many! LOL! But I will thank my amazingly amazing friend/reviewer omgitspippyxD because she's been behind me through this entire thing, commenting it and giving me suggestions. I LOVE YOU PIPPY!**

**Also guys, I've got a new fanfic that I'm going to start working on pretty soon. I'm stuck between two possible story lines though, so I need your help to decide which one to write about.**

**The first one is all human, again, and it features Bella as the most popular girl at Forks High, with the beautiful yet unpopular Cullens and Hales at the bottom of the totem pole. What happens when she's forced to work with Alice and Edward in a group project, and starts to actually… like them? And how will her uber popular possy react when they find out Bella's been hanging around with the unpopulars?**

**The second choice picks up a few years after Eclipse. It's ten years after Bella's been changed. She and Edward are happily married. All of the family moves to a new state and start at a new high school. Everything's going fine until Jane shows up and demands that they go to Italy to see Aro. What happens when Aro decides it time for Bella and Edward to join or die?**

**Review and tell me! Or you can just message me your vote!**

**The next chapter of THIS story should be out by this Wednesday at the latest, and boy will it be interesting.**

**Keep remembering to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I love you guys!!**

**-S.N.O.**


	10. Chapter Eight: Crash

CHAPTER EIGHT: CRASH

I must have had some terrified expression on my face because my entire family was looking at me like I was crazy.

"Who is it, Bella?" Mom asked softly.

"Is it Edward? I bet it is," Alice said.

"Well, that didn't take very long…" Emmett mumbled under his breath.

But it wasn't Edward. Instead, it was the very person who was least likely to call me right now; the person who was least likely to call me EVER, at that. I stared at my phone for a few seconds before answering it. On the fourth buzz, I flipped it open and held the speaker up to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Bella." Jacob answered.

"Um… hi…" That was all that I could get to come out of my mouth. Everyone was still staring at me and I looked back up at them, gesturing with my free hand for them to all go away. As Alice was getting up, I grabbed her by the arm and mouthed, 'Not you'. She immediately sat back down.

"Um, how are you?" Jacob asked.

"I'm… I'm fine. Really fine. Everything's great. How about you?" I asked, looking at Alice with my eyes still wide open. She furrowed her thin dark brows in confusion.

"I'm uh, I'm fine too…" There was a long pause after that; from both of us. Alice was still looking at me, puzzled, so I took that time to mouth to her 'Jacob'. Her mouth instantly fell open and she let out a small gasp, then covered her mouth with her hand.

"Uh, was there something you needed?" I asked, trying not to make it sound like I didn't want to talk to him.

"No, not really. I just wanted to ask you a quick question… about the New Year's Eve party. Your New Year's Eve party." _Duh_, my New Year's Eve party. It was the only one either of us ever went to. But what would he want to ask about that? It's not like we didn't invite him or anything…

"Uh, yeah what about it?" I asked.

"Well, I uh… well, me and Billy, we didn't exactly… get an invitation in the mail. I didn't know if ours got lost or, if we weren't… invited… or something," he said, sounding genuinely upset. I let out a tiny giggle.

"Why did you just laugh?" Now he sounded like he was getting mad.

"No, Jacob, listen. Your invite didn't get lost. You and Billy are both invited," I assured him.

"Then, why—"

"Jake, we just addressed and sent out the invites today. Remember? A week before Winter Break we all—"

"…sit around and do the invites together," he finished. "Gosh, I feel like an idiot now. I'm sorry Bella I shouldn't have called to ask you."

"Oh, Jake, it's fine. You just forgot about my family's little tradition. It's okay." Alice was looking like she was about to explode, she wanted to know what was going on that much. I just held up a finger and mouthed to her 'in a minute'. That didn't calm her down the least bit.

"Okay, well sorry again. So I guess we'll just RSVP as soon as we get it… and then see you in a couple weeks."

"Don't worry about it. And yes, RSVPing and then coming would be good," I said, letting out a little giggle at the end.

"Okay. Well, I'll talk to you later then."

"Okay. Bye, Jake."

"Bye, Bella."

_Click. _I ended the call and closed my phone shut. Before I could say anything, Alice was all over me with questions.

"What did he want? Why were you talking about the party? Is he mad about something? Bella, tell me, dammit!" She was pulling on my arm and bouncing impatiently on the sofa. I just looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on us or my phone call. I wanted Alice to think that it was something big and that only the two of us could know.

"Okay…" I whispered. "Well, you know that was Jake." She nodded her head in response. "Well, he called to ask me…" She was bouncing furiously now, and her eyes were growing wide with anticipation. "He asked me if I…. didn'tinvitehimbecausehehadn'tgottenaninviteyet." She stared at me for a few minutes before realizing that what I had just told her wasn't that big of a deal.

"That's it?" she asked unhappily.

"That's it. I reminded him that today was the day we addressed the invites and he said he's RSVP when he got his," I shrugged. She slapped my arm. Hard.

"Hey, what was that for?" I asked innocently, smiling.

"THAT was for making me think that something huge was going on during that phone convo, missy!"

"I couldn't help it. It was so easy!"

"Bella!" Slap.

"What?!"

"You know I love secrets! That was just cruel. Making me think his call was a big deal." She was whining now.

"I know, and Alice it was a big deal!" I told her in a voice mocking her own. She rolled her eyes and got up off the couch and started to run up the stairs to her room.

"Don't talk to me, Bella!" she yelled from the second story.

"It was a HUGE deal! A huge deal that only _you_ can know about!" I was standing in the living room smiling, and she was already in her room. I knew because I heard a door slam, and I was pretty sure it wasn't Emmett, since he was already in his room, and he had nothing to slam his door about anyway.

"What's a huge deal that only she can know about?" I heard Mom ask from behind me. I shrugged.

"That was Jacob who called me." Her mouth fell open. "He was just wondering why he hadn't gotten an invitation. I assured him that we hadn't even sent them out until late today. He felt like an idiot, said he'd RSVP when he got the invite, and then we hung up." She started laughing.

"So that's why she stormed off to her room?"

"Yep."

"Well, that's our Alice." She patted my shoulder and then retreated to her room for the night.

"Yeah, that's our Alice."

Edward called me the next day. We made plans to go out on this coming Friday, to go to the Day Before Winter Carnival for our school. The carnival was an annual tradition at Forks High. It was hosted the night before Winter Break started, meaning it was always on a Friday. Nearly everyone from school always went, seeing as how it was pretty much the biggest event to ever happen in our small town on Forks. Last year I went with Alice and Rosalie. We tried to convince Rose to go with Emmett, but she said that she wanted to go with us instead and she and Emmett hadn't been together long enough. Right. This year we would all three be going separately. Well, we'd all be going together, just probably not staying together. Alice was going with Jasper as their second date, I was going with Edward, and Rose decided that since we were both going with dates, she'd go off with Emmett.

The last week of the first semester went by unbelievably slow. The entire week was filled with exams, exams, exams. Totally boring. Alice was ecstatic about going to the carnival with Jasper so she could hardly ever concentrate on studying. You would think that not being able to study would mean that Alice wouldn't do so great on her exams. That was hardly the case. She passed every single one of her exams with flying colors.

By the time Friday came, I was pretty anxious about the carnival. I couldn't stop tapping my foot in school all day and every five seconds I would find myself looking at whatever clock was around. But I was also very excited. Edward was such a nice guy and who knows? Maybe this date will be better than the fake one last week?

Alice got me ready again. This time, Rosalie was here to help. _Wonderful_. She came over about two hours before Edward and Jasper were supposed to arrive. I always hated whenever my sister and best friend would gang up on me to play another round of Barbie Bella, but I would always love the outcome. Tonight we all were dressed in casual clothing that was suitable for a carnival. Alice was wearing low-rise skinny jeans that were tucked into black Ugg boots. She had on a dark green halter top, similar to the one I wore last Saturday on my fake date with Edward, under a thin, white coat that was lined with fake rabbit fur. You've gotta love those winters in Forks. Over her usually spiky hair was a green and white striped knitted beanie. Rosalie was wearing boot-cut jeans, a long-sleeved knit red v-neck sweater, a long, wool, plaid gray and white coat, and black stiletto boots. But that was Rosalie; wearing something that's completely not right for the event you're going to. Her long, blond hair was in cascading curls.

I was in a similar ensemble to Alice's. However, my jeans weren't low-rise skinnys, they were just regular jeans. I had on a midnight blue scoop-neck sweater under a thin, light gray winter coat that was trimmed with faux fur. On my feet were my favorite shoes ever, my gray Uggs. When Alice first bought them for me, I didn't think I'd like them too much; A because they're designer, and B because I didn't have really anything to wear them with. That quickly changed. I was wearing a gray knit cap over my again-straightened brown hair. I actually liked how I looked. Again, I hate the process of Bella Barbie, but I love the end results every time.

Jasper and Edward came together to get us in Edward's black Infinity, but we all decided to take Emmett's truck because there was more room. Rosalie was in the passenger seat, Alice and Jasper were in the middle row Captain chairs, and Edward and I were in the far back row. The ride to the school took only a few minutes. When we got there all of our mouths dropped in amazement. The entire high school was completely transformed. In between all of the buildings and along the sidewalks were carnival games and prize stations. The football field had a Ferris wheel to one end, a Tilt-O-Whirl **(pic on profile) **on the other, and in between were the snack bars.

We all stepped out of the car and immediately went our separate ways. Edward and I first went to the snack bar since both of us were starving.

"Bella, what do you want?" he asked me.

"Oh, I'll just get myself a hamburger, I guess," I said, and reached to get money out of my pocket. Before I could pull out my five-dollar-bill, I felt a warm hand grab my wrist. I looked up to see Edward.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I was getting out my money…" I was confused.

"Bella, please. Let me take care of that," he said. He ordered our food and then started to go find a picnic table to sit at.

"Edward, you really didn't have to do that," I told him.

"I know. But I wanted to." He smiled that gorgeous crooked smile of his and I thanked him. He just waved it off and said it that it was his pleasure. When we were finished eating, we went back up to the games area.

"It's probably best that we save the Tilt-O-Whirl and Ferris wheel for later," he suggested, patting his stomach. I just laughed and agreed with him. When we approached the first game, Pie A Teacher, we found Rosalie and Emmett there laughing their heads off.

"Hey guys," I greeted them.

"Oh hey Bella!" Rose greeted me back, still laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked. They both pointed back to the game, where my math teacher, Mr. O'Ryan, had whipped cream all over his pudgy face. I don't think I saw an ounce of skin through it. I started laughing when I saw that, too.

"Rosie hit him square in the face. All of that pie was from one shot," Emmett told us, hugging his girlfriend. "That's my girl," he said, kissing her hair.

"You guys want to try? It's so much fun!" Rose asked us, pulling away from Emmett's death grip.

"Yeah, sure," I said, stepping up to the counter. The principal, Mrs. Filter, handed me a pie and went to take her place to be my teacher target. Just as I was about to throw the pie at her, Alice came running up to us, Jasper in tow.

"Guys!" she yelled, breathless when she reached us.

"What is it, Al?" Emmett asked her, worried.

"There… are… five kids from that… school in… La Push… here, crashing… the carnival," she told us, in between gasps for air.

"Do you know who they are?" I asked curiously.

"No, but they just showed up about two minutes ago. They're over by the ring toss right now." We all looked back over to where the ring toss table was and sure enough, there were the five kids Alice had told us of. They were all pretty big in size. I craned my neck over the crowd of teenagers to see who the mysterious party crashers were. And then they turned around and I gasped out loud. Rosalie, Alice, and Emmett must have recognized them also.

"Oh my God," Alice exclaimed. Oh my God was right. I knew every single one of those kids. And every single one of them knew me. Just then, the one who I recognized the most, spotted me and shouted over the crowd, "Hey, Bella!"

_Jacob._

I couldn't believe he was here, crashing my high school's annual winter carnival. He started walking towards me, the other four following behind him. I tried my hardest to put a smile on, but it felt as if my cheek muscles were paralyzed. I turned to Alice and then Rosalie and saw they both had their mouths hanging open. I saw Emmett staring at Jacob with his eyes narrowed and his jaw tensed.

"The nerve of that kid! Showing up here. Ugh!" Emmett whisper-yelled to no one in particular. Edward leaned down to my ear.

"Who are they?" he asked me softly. I looked back up to meet his gaze.

"Uh… they're um… Jacob and his best friends…" I stuttered, looking back towards the group of over-grown Quileute kids making their way over to us.

"Jacob-your-ex-boy-friend-Jacob?" he asked.

"Yeah…"

"And those are his friends?"

"Yes."

"Hmph." Edward didn't seem to like them very much. I just giggled.

"Hey Bells!" Jacob exclaimed when he finally got to us.

"Uh, hey Jake." I looked to my friends for help, but they were all starting to disappear, not wanting to get in the way of me and my ex, I guess. Edward was the only one who stayed with me. "So, what are you doing here?" I asked Jacob, not making eye contact. Instead, I ran my eyes over his four best friends who I knew almost as well as I knew Jake. Quil Ateara, Embry Call, Sam Uley, and Seth Clearwater. They had all grown at least four inches since the last time I had seen them, which had to have been at least four months ago. They were all looking at Edward the way Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett were looking at Jake.

"Oh, just having some good old fun, nothing bad. Just wanted to see what this infamous carnival was like," Jake told me.

"Oh, well you know that kids from other schools aren't supposed to be here, right?"

"Yeah, I know. That's what makes it so fun!" He told his friends to go get started on some other games so he and I could talk. "Uh, hey dude do you mind if we talk privately for a minute?" he asked Edward.

"Hey, dude, yeah I do mind," Edward said, mocking his choice of words.

"Okay, if you feel that way. Anyway, we got the invitation to your party a couple days ago, Bella," Jake said to me.

"Oh that's good. How come you haven't RSPVed yet then?" I asked. Maybe he didn't want to come. That would sure make things easier for me if he didn't.

"Well, that's what I want to talk to you about," he told me. "Would it be okay if I brought a friend with me? You know, Jake and Billy plus one?" A friend? That couldn't be too harmful. But why did he sound so nervous about asking me?

"Yeah, sure, I guess it would be fine. Just make sure to put it on your RSVP card." He looked up from the ground with his eyebrows raised.

"Really?" I nodded. "Thanks Bella. I appreciate it." Why was he so happy about bringing a friend to my party? Maybe he just needed someone to talk to.

"Sure. Uh, do I know this friend?" I asked, looking around for Quil, Embry, and the other guys Jake brought with him.

"Nah, Peyton's a friend from school," he told me.

"Oh, okay." Peyton. Nice name. "Well, then I'll see you next weekend."

"Yep." He started to walk away, but I stopped to tell him something.

"Oh, wait, Jake!" He turned around, seemingly worried about something.

"Yeah?"

"You guys might want to head out now. You know, before you get caught," I told him, looking around to all of the curious nearby teachers and faculty.

He smiled and nodded. "Will do. Hey boys, lets get rollin'!" They all gathered up and left. I wasn't even aware of Edward standing beside me anymore until he placed his hand on my back and whispered me, "You still invited him to your New Year's Eve party?" His touch sent chills all the way up my spine and back down. I turned to face him.

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

"Don't you think that might be a bit…awkward?" he asked.

"Nah, we're still friends. I mean, it might be a little weird having my ex boyfriend and the guy I'm currently dating…" I paused to look at him again, "around each other for an entire night." He smiled when I looked at him. _Wow. This guy really does like me_, I thought silently.

"I won't start anything if he doesn't," he assured me softly. That sent another round of chills up my spine. He was so cute. We caught back up with Alice, Rose and the others and spent the rest of the night with them. Alice and Emmett kept giving me weird looks, probably wondering who this 'Peyton' person was and why Jacob was so excited to have them come to the party. We spent hours playing games (no one really was up to going on the Tilt-O-Whirl or a Ferris wheel that didn't look at all safe) and decided to get going at around 10:30. It really was a fun night once everyone got passed Jake and his friends crashing the carnival.

Edward helped me out of the truck and Alice and I walked him and Jasper back to his car. Alice and Jasper embraced in a gigantic hug that lifted Alice off of her feet. I hugged Edward as well, but instead of lifting me off of the ground, he kissed my cheek. When we broke apart I looked him in the eyes and could feel my face starting to burn up. He must have noticed because he just smiled and whispered, "Goodnight, Bella," before getting into his car, and then driving off once Jasper was in.

"Goodnight, Edward," I whispered after him, hand clutched to my cheek. _Wow. Wow, wow, wow_, was all I could think.

**A/N**

**Okay, so how did you guys like it? Personally, I didn't think it was as good as other chapters. A lot of it was mostly filler stuff and information. That's what this chapter really was. A filler chapter. And it moved extremely quickly. I know all of that. But I can assure you that you will love, love, LOVE Chapter Nine: Party when it's finished. THAT'S when all the big gigantic drama and all that good stuff will happen. So, who's this mysterious Peyton? And why was Jacob so excited to be able to bring them to the party? Any ideas? Hmmmmm…**

**Anyways, again I'd like to thank all of you and your reviews for helping me along with this story. As of right now, I'm at 87 reviews. EIGHTY-SEVEN REVIEWS! That is AWESOME guys, I really appreciate every single one of them. Let's get to the big 100, shall we?**

**And again thank you Pippy for helping me choose what was going to happen in this chapter, even though I didn't really go into much detail with it. ILY!!\**

**I'm not sure when the party chapter's going to be up. I need to get every little detail, every little WORD right to make it work. So it may take some time. But I promise, I'm not going to go away for a month and leave you wondering like some other authors do. Definitely not. It will be up by Sunday at the latest, I can promise you that. Who knows; maybe I'll be on another roll and it'll be up much sooner than that?**

**Okay, that's it for now.**

**I love you guys and remember to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**

**-S.N.O.**


	11. Chapter Nine: Party

**A/N**

**Yay, over 100 reviews!! Thanks guys, I really super appreciate every single one of them!**

**Okay, so a lot of you had your guesses on what was gonna go down at the party. Ready to find out if you were right?**

**Here's Chapter Nine. Enjoy.**

**-S.N.O.**

CHAPTER NINE: PARTY

Alice and I spent the next week managing everything for the party. I mostly just took care of keeping track of all the RSVP's while Alice did pretty much everything else. That's what she was good for. Not that she wasn't good for anything else, but you know what I mean. The whole week she was on the phone with different businesses that someway or another had something to do with the party; caterers, decorators, the DJ we hired, etc. Everyone that was invited had sent in their RSVP's and as far as we knew everyone was coming. The Hale's, Masen's, Webber's, co-workers, and then Billy and Jake plus one. I was actually looking forward to meet this Peyton friend of Jacob's. What did they look like? Were they nice? How come I had never met them? All of these questions would hopefully be answered Saturday night.

All day Saturday the entire family, minus Emmett, plus Rosalie, helped set up for the party. The DJ was the last to arrive, two hours late. Needless to say, Alice wasn't too pleased. The decorations were, as always, perfect and beautiful. We had red, white, and purple streamers hanging from the ceilings, lot's of 'Happy New Year!' banners all over the walls, and several round party tables set up out in the backyard that were draped in either red, white, or purple table cloths and had confetti sprinkled all over. They were centered with giant plastic centerpieces that said either 'Happy New Year!' or 'Bring In 2009!'. _**(A/N- yeah, I decided that it was '08 getting ready for '09) **_The food, catered by three different places, was all set up on separate buffet tables along the wall outside. There was a bar set up for the adults in the kitchen. By 8:00, everything was set up and ready to go. The music was already playing and everyone was dressed.

I was wearing a deep red tube top that Alice had forced me into, light wash low-rise jeans, and strappy red heels. Rosalie spent almost an hour on my hair, which fell over my shoulders in light waves. Alice drew thin black lines around my eyes, gave me light red eye shadow, a soft pink lipstick, and soft pink blush. I thought I looked pretty good.

Alice was wearing a blue, three-quarter sleeve, v-neck top over a dark green laced camisole. She, too, had on light-wash low-rise jeans, but was wearing shiny blue ballet flats. That was surprising since she usually wanted to make herself seem taller. She had straightened her hair to make it kind of flip out at the bottom. It looked really cool, actually.

Rose was wearing a black denim mini skirt, a deep green halter top that showed her midriff, and black three-inch heels. Her hair was also straightened.

People started arriving at around 8:15, and soon the entire living room and kitchen area was filled with our guests. Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and I were all sitting around in the living room talking when someone came up behind me and tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see a wonderfully-dressed Edward. He was in a plain white button up shirt, dark jeans, and white sneakers. He looked absolutely flawless.

"Hey, there," I greeted him, standing up to hug him. "Glad you could make it." How stupid. _Of course he would make it, he made it every year. Stupid, stupid Bella. _He smiled and greeted me back.

"Of course. I never miss the famous Cullen New Year's Eve party," he said smoothly. Behind him, his parents were already chatting away with mine.

"You want anything to drink?" I asked him politely.

"No, thanks. I'm good right now." He sat down next to where I had been seated and pulled me down with him. "This is even more amazing than it was last year," he told me, looking around at all the party decorations.

"Thank you," Alice said, butting in. She always took the credit for everything that went into the parties we ever held, but she deserved it. She always took care of everything. We all sat around in the living room talking for a while before a familiar song started being played. I groaned and hid my face in my hand.

"I love this song!" Alice exclaimed. Boy, did I know that. She would always blast it on her stereo in her room and in the car. She got up and pulled Jasper with her to the 'dance floor' that was the living room.

"Not a big fan of rap, huh?" Edward asked me, making me pick my head up out of my hand. Gosh, his eyes were pretty. And they were even prettier being so up close. They were like giant emeralds, perfect and wonderful… I pulled myself out of my little fantasy and shook my head in response to his question.

"Didn't you learn nothing from that little… fake date thing a couple weeks ago?" I joked, smiling.

"I guess not. Now you'll have to forgive me, but did you say you could or couldn't dance?" he asked. I looked up as if I were thinking then replied to him.

"Hmm, I think I said that I couldn't." His smile fell and he looked down. "But, I never said that I wouldn't try…" _Good, Bells. Nice way to hint that it's okay to ask_, I complemented myself mentally. That seemed to make his hopefulness return.

"Well then, care to join me?" he asked, holding out his hand. I took it and nodded. He led me to the dance floor. I took both of his hands in mine and turned my back to him, rocking side to side with the beat. He crossed my arms over my chest with his, pulling me closer to his body. I couldn't help but smile at how close we were and how much fun I was having dancing with Edward. I snuck a glance over at Alice and Jasper who were dancing much crazier than Edward and I were, even with all of these adults around. Rosalie and Emmett were dancing similarly to how they were, only facing each other. Edward uncrossed my arms and turned me around to face him. He let one of his hands free and placed it on the small of back, smoothly pulling me closer. We kept dancing through the next few songs until I realized my mouth was completely dry and I needed a drink of water. Still smiling, I pulled him into the kitchen where the beverage tables were. He poured me a glass of ice water and handed it to me. His face was flushed and there were tiny beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"So, still say you can't dance?" Edward asked me.

"Nah, I'd say that assumption is long proven wrong, wouldn't you say so?" I asked him back.

"Yes, I'd say so," he said, smiling that crooked grin that melted my heart every time I saw it. We went outside to sit at a free table to just talk for a while. Mostly just random stuff like how our exams went, what classes we're taking this upcoming semester (we found out we'd have math and biology together), and how the party was going so far.

"Hey guys!" Our conversation was soon interrupted by Alice, who was pulling Jasper by the hand. They came over to our table and sat down, Alice next to me, Jasper on her other side. "So is this party amazing or WHAT?! I'm having more fun than I have any other year. Wow. Amazing." She was talking a mile a minute, but we all heard her. She took Jasper's hand in hers and leaned into his shoulder. I was surprised to see him blush. I don't think I'd ever seen Jasper Hale blush in all of the years I had known him.

"So did you guys have fun dancing?" she sang to us. Edward smiled shyly at her and nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah, we did," I told her, giving Edward a quick smile. He looked back at me and held my gaze for a few moments.

"Ahem, still here," Alice said. I shot daggers at her for ruining my moment in Edward-filled la-la land.

"Hellooooo there ladies and gents!" We all heard Emmett's booming voice call to us. We turned to see him waving childishly to us from behind Rosalie, who was pulling him along by his wrist.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Rosalie asked us. Did she really just ask us that?

"No, Rose. I mean, you're only our best friend. Why on _Earth_ would we want you to sit with us?" I asked sarcastically. She just rolled her eyes and took a seat beside Jasper.

"Dude, I think this is our best year EVER!" Emmett yelled. Alice gasped.

"No way, that's what I said! Well, not those words but, you get it."

"Holy crap, are we actually thinking alike?" Emmett yelled.

"Omigod, we are!" she squealed. They high-fived each other, laughing like… like… I don't know what they were laughing like, but it was funny.

"Eureka! Alice and Emmett agree on something!" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air.

"Well, I think we can all agree that this is the best year," Jasper said, putting in his opinion. We all nodded our heads and smiled in agreement. Except Em and Al.

"Hey, bud, you don't have to go and ruin our moment like that,"Alice scolded him in a fake pout.

"I'm terribly sorry. Forgive me?" Jasper asked, giving Alice puppy dog eyes. She sighed in defeat.

"Well, there's no way I can say no to that face, so yes. I forgive you." She kissed the tip of his nose and we all laughed. Just then the DJ put on a slow song. I gasped aloud when I realized what it was.

"Oh my gosh, I love this song!" I yelled as I heard Nick Jonas's voice come over the speakers as Please Be Mine, my favorite Jonas Brothers song, started playing. **(A/N- That seriously is the best song ever! If you've ever heard the JB's first album then you know the song. MY FAVE!)**

Edward held out his hand for me again. "Then why are we sitting around here?" He smiled at me and I took his hand as he led me out onto the patio to dance. I placed my left hand on his shoulder and he put his hand on the small of my back. Our other hands linked together and we started swaying to the music. I rested my cheek on his strong chest, staring at our intertwined fingers. He laid his chin on top of my head and I started humming along with the music. I heard a loud knock on the door, even from outside, but decided to ignore it. If they were smart, they would just let themselves in. And apparently, that's what they did, because I heard everyone at our table gasp.

"Bella," Alice said to me. I looked up from Edward's chest and glanced at Alice, who was staring towards the front door. I turned around and there he was. Jacob was standing in front of the door with his arm around some blond girl's shoulder. She wasn't as tall as he was, but she still had quite some height. Her hair was long and wavy and fell over her lavender crop top. She had on a plaid gray mini skirt that was at least two inches shorted than Rosalie's. Her heels were black and laced around her calves. My mouth dropped at the sight of this girl that had just arrived at my house with Jacob.

I turned back to my table and sat down, still holding hands with Edward, and looked at all of their stunned faces. Edward tightened his grip on my hand.

"Oh no he didn't," Rosalie said softly, narrowing her eyes.

"Guys, chill out," I told them all quietly. They all turned to stare at me.

"Bella, what do you mean chill out?" Alice demanded.

"We agreed to be friends."

"But, Bella, look at him! Bringing that blond bimbo to your family's party," Rosalie said.

"Rose! I've moved on, so should h—"

"Hey, Bella." I was interrupted by a very familiar husky voice. I turned around to see Jacob standing behind my chair, his arm still around the girl's shoulders.

"Oh, hey Jake," I said, standing up to greet them. Jacob looked very uncomfortable as he glanced at everyone's cold expressions.

"Uh, Bella this is my g— my friend, Peyton," he announced. What was that 'g'? Was he about to say what I think he was going to?

"Hi, nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand for her to shake. She smiled, obviously fake, and shook my hand.

"Likewise," she said in a nasally, high-pitched tone. Wow, I was surprised she knew such a big word! Everyone got up from their seats to come stand slightly behind me.

"Um, Peyton this is Bella's sister Alice, her brother Emmett, best friend Rosalie, Rosalie's brother Jasper, and sorry, I don't know you," he said, that last part directed to Edward.

"Edward Masen, Bella's b— Bella's friend." I giggled as he mimicked Jacob's earlier choice of words. Jake stiffened and turned his attention to Alice and Rosalie.

"Alice. Rosalie. Nice to see you again," he told them.

"Yeah, not so much," Rose said to him, scrunching up her nose. I looked at her with my eyes wide and shook my head slightly. She rolled her eyes and gestured to Emmett to come back inside with her.

"Come on Jasper, let's go dance," Alice said, pulling Jasper back into the house, following Rose and Emmett.

"So Jake, where's Billy?" I asked, trying to break the tention.

"Oh, he's not feeling very well, so he decided to stay home."

"Oh…" We both looked away and there was a short pause.

"Hey, Peyton why don't you go get us something to drink?" Jacob asked his 'friend'.

"Sure, Jakey," she told him, stalking off to the beverage tables inside. Jakey? What the hell was _up_ with this chick?

"Hey, Edward, why don't you go inside and make sure everyone else isn't doing something they'll regret?" I asked him in my sweetest voice. He hesitated, glancing back and forth between Jacob and I. "It's okay, we're just going to talk," I whispered into his ear. He just nodded and went inside to find everyone. It upset me that he had to let go of my hand.

"So, that's your _friend_ Peyton, huh?" I asked Jake.

"Um, yeah. That's Peyton."

"She's pretty."

"Uh, yeah. She is." He was standing nervously. He had a right to be, though.

"So, how long have you guys been _friends_?"

"What?" He immediately looked up, his eyes wide with nerves.

"I just asked how long you guys have been friends."

"Uh… um… about a year or so." I crossed my arms over my chest. That was all I needed.

"Is there something you need to tell me, Jacob? Because if there is, I'd really appreciate it if you told me right now before I get mad."

"What? No, there's nothing… I need to… tell you…"

"Jacob, was she the reason you broke up with me?" I asked him quietly, hoping nobody would be able to hear.

"Bella, that's ridiculous," he said, looking away.

"Is it really? It is so ridiculous?"

"Bella…"

"Tell me, Jake. Is she the reason you broke up with me?" Now I was starting to get pissed. He didn't answer, so I decided to take a different approach.

"How long?" I asked him. He looked back down to me.

"How long what?"

"How long have you been together with her?" Another pause.

"Um… about a month." My jaw dropped and my heart broke.

"A month."

"Yes."

"So that would mean that you were with her when… we… were…" I couldn't even finish the sentence. He looked down at his feet again and put his hands in his pockets.

"Bella, look I'm really so—" I just held my hand up to cut him off.

"Save your fake apologies for someone who will believe them." Just then Peyton was back with two glasses of soda in her hands.

"Here you go, baby," she said flirtatiously to Jake, handing him one of the cups.

"Gee, thanks, Peyton," I said to her, taking the cup out of her hand.

"Hey, what are you—" she started. But before she could finish, I had my hand over Jacob's head, pouring the soda all over him. I flicked what was left of it on Peyton. Everyone around stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at the three of us and the music stopped.

"What the hell?!" she screamed, trying to air out her top. I could see Alice, Jasper, Edward, Rose, and Emmett coming through the sliding glass door right after Peyton's little outburst.

"Bella, what—" Alice started to ask me, but she stopped and placed her hand over her mouth once she saw Jacob and Peyton covered in soda. So did everyone else, and I could see Alice and Rose shaking, probably from laughter.

"What was that for?!" Peyton yelled at me.

"You knew didn't you?" I asked her.

"Knew what?" she asked, furiously. Damn, if anyone had a reason to be furious it was me; not her.

"That Jake and I were together when you two started out." She just stared at me with a blank expression. I took that as a confirmation.

"Go to hell. Both of you," I said, and then stormed back into the house, pushing past my friends and family and everyone else in my way, ignoring the questions being thrown at me. I slammed my bedroom door and then heard the music downstairs start playing again. I couldn't believe what I had just been told. Jacob had been cheating on me. _Cheating on me!_ How could he do that?! Ugh! I threw myself onto my bed and screamed into a pillow. I didn't care if my pillow got dirty from my running make-up. I didn't care if I had somewhat dirty shoes on my bed spread right now. I didn't care if everyone had just been witness to every bit of the conversation that took place between me, Jacob, and that bitch Peyton. All I cared about was that Jacob did the one thing I never would've thought he would do. And then to bring the girl that he cheated on me with to my own family's party! I knew there was a reason why he was acting so strange and changing his mind the day we broke up. But I had no idea that it was because he had some other girl on the side. No idea at all.

I heard a knock at my door.

"Bella? Bella, it's us," Rosalie called to me through the door. I didn't want to talk. So I just ignored them.

"Bella, please open the door. We want to help," Alice said. _There's nothing you guys can to do help me_, I thought.

"Bella, come on," Alice whined.

"Let's just go, Al. She obviously doesn't want to talk." _Thanks, Rose._ I heard footsteps and knew they were leaving. I lifted my head up off of my tear-soaked pillow and grabbed a tissue off of my nightstand. I got up and walked over to my vanity and wiped away my tears and ruined make-up, then threw my dirty tissue aggressively into my waste bin and put my head in my hands.

There was yelling outside so I got up and went to my window/wall to see what all the commotion was about. I saw Mom standing in front of Jake yelling something unintelligible at him while he stood protectively in front of Peyton. _Good idea, since my mom can kick both of your asses and then some if she had the reason to_, I thought smugly. She pointed in the direction of the front door and they started to make their way back into the house to leave. But she stopped them to say something else, then sent them on their way again. Everyone, inside and out, was staring at her with amazement. She turned back to them, said something, and they all got back to their previous activities. I took a seat in my green chair and folded my arms across my chest as I looked out at the big screen that was set up earlier this evening. Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve was being projected on it. Right now, Miley Cyrus was performing a song with the Jonas Brothers on top of a building. I stared blankly at the screen, not paying attention to the performance.

Just then there was a soft knock on my door.

"Honey? Are you okay?" Mom asked, slowly opening my door.

"Definitely not, but you can come in, Mom," I told her. She came in and shut the big black door behind her, and came to take a seat on the chair with me.

"Honey, I am so sorry about Jacob," she said, putting her arms around me.

"It's not your fault, Mom. Don't apologize," I said, embracing as well.

"I know it's not my fault, but it was still such a wretched thing and…" She broke the sentence off when I pulled away and looked back out the window. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking about it."

"No, Mom. It's fine. I'll be okay. You should get back to the party; how would it look if two Cullen ladies were missing from a Cullen party?" I asked her, trying to lighten the very dark mood. She let out a low chuckle.

"I guess you're right. Will you be okay in here by yourself?" I just nodded. She kissed my forehead before getting up and going back downstairs. Not a minute later there was another knock on my door. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"What now?" I said quietly.

"It's me," I heard that velvety voice say to me from behind the door. I quickly composed myself as he opened the door and then closed it softly behind him.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you would be my mom or Alice and Rosalie again," I apologized to him.

"It's cool," he said, walking over to me. I made room for him on the chair so that he could sit down with me. "So… how are you doing?" he asked. I smiled lightly and looked down at my hands.

"How is any girl when her ex boyfriend shows up to her party with some blond girl and finds out he was cheating on her?" I asked sarcastically. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled my closer.

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid question," he said as I put my head on his broad shoulder.

"It's okay. Everyone's entitled to a few of those every now and then." We both laughed at that statement I just made. "I'm sorry about that. I know it can't be easy to see me getting all worked up about my jerk of an ex," I apologized.

"Don't worry about. I probably would have acted the same way if something like this happened to me." We just sat like that for a moment. "Bella, I want you to know that I'm always here for you. And I always will be, no matter what things are like between us." I pulled away slowly and looked up at his perfect green eyes.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Why what?" he asked back.

"Why are you always here for me? Why are you so _nice_ to me?" His expression softened, if that's even possible, and he looked at me with genuine affection in his eyes.

"Because I care about you. More than you know, at that." He said that last part so softly I wasn't even sure I'd heard it. But I just smiled and hugged him.

"I care about you too, Edward," I whispered.

"Really?" He sounded surprised. I nodded into his chest.

"More than you know."

"Forty… thirty-nine… thirty-eight… thirty-seven…" We both looked out the window at the sound of other guests counting down to the new year.

"Bella, there's something I want to ask you…" Edward said.

"Thirty-four… thirty-three… thirty-two…"

"Yes?" I asked.

"Twenty-nine… twenty-eight… twenty-seven… twenty-six…"

"Will you… will you be…"

"Twenty-two… twenty-one… twenty…"

"Yes?"

"I wanted to know if you…"

"Eighteen… seventeen… sixteen…"

"Edward, spit it out already," I joked, laughing.

"Well… will you be my girlfriend?" I think my heart just about stopped beating.

"Thirteen… twelve… eleven…" I smiled from ear to ear.

"Only if you'll be my boyfriend," I told him. We both laughed and he took me into a gigantic hug.

"Always," he whispered in my ear.

"Eight… seven…" We pulled apart, but slowly started inching closer.

"Six…" Closer.

"Five…" Closer.

"Four…" Closer.

"Three…" Closer.

"Two…" We were only centimeters apart now.

"One…" And then the final distance between our mouths was gone. His mouth was so warm and gentle, not the way Jacob's had been. _No, Bella. This is NOT compare-Edward-to-Jacob time! JUST KISS THE BOY!_ Our mouths moved in sync and I felt his tongue on my mouth, then granted him entrance. Our tongues moved in perfect motion together and I felt like I never wanted this kiss to end. We finally had to break apart, for breathing purposes, and I stared into his eyes.

Breathless and smiling, he simply said, "Happy New Year, Bella."

_Happy New Year, Bella, indeed._

**A/N**

**So what did you guys think? I couldn't stop smiling as I was typing this entire chapter. Well, except for the part with Jacob and whatnot. I need reviews and opinions, especially on whether or not I should continue with the story. This was only nine chapters though, nine very short chapters, so I would love to keep going and expand on everything. But I'm not exactly where I would go with it if I did continue, so I would need your help. Remember, I absolutely love all of you and the REVIEWS that come with you. Also remember to give me your opinions and such! ILY ALL!!**

**P.S.- I've got a short alternate ending to this chapter. I just thought of it and it's really cute so I figured that I would post that also. Here it is! It starts when they hear the countdown begin. Enjoy.**

CHAPTER NINE: PARTY

-ALTERNATE ENDING-

"Forty… thirty-nine… thirty-eight… thirty-seven…" We both looked out the window at the sound of other guests counting down to the new year. I turned my attention to the projection screen, which was currently showing love footage of the crystal ball being dropped in Times Square. I looked at it in amazement, wishing I could be there to witness it live.

"That thing is so beautiful," I said aloud.

"Not as beautiful as you, though," Edward replied. I turned my head sharply back to look at him. His eyes were gleaming with hope and adoration. My heartbeat quickened.

"What?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Bella, you are so much more amazing than you give yourself credit for," he started. My eyes were growing wider by the second.

"You are so unlike any girl I've ever know, and in a good way. Definitely in a good way." He smiled, and I could hear the countdown still going outside.

"You're smart, and funny, and… extremely beautiful." Wow, he was melting my heart with those words and that darn smile again. _This kid really knows how to dazzle as girl_, I thought.

"And… there's something I've been meaning to ask you…" The countdown continued.

"Eighteen… seventeen… sixteen…"

"Yes?" I asked, my voice still uneven.

"Thirteen… twelve… eleven…"

"Isabella Cullen… will you be my girlfriend?" he asked. I think my heart just about stopped beating.

"Eight… seven…" I smiled from ear to ear.

"Six… five…" I inched closer to Edward slowly.

"Four…" Closer.

"Three…" Closer.

"Two…" We were only centimeters apart now, and I could feel his warm breath on my skin.

"One…" Whatever distance there was a few seconds ago was now gone. His mouth was so warm and gentle, not the way Jacob's had been. _No, Bella. This is NOT compare-Edward-to-Jacob time! JUST KISS THE BOY!_ Our mouths moved in sync and I felt his tongue on my mouth, then granted him entrance. Our tongues moved in perfect motion together and I felt like I never wanted this kiss to end. We finally had to break apart, for breathing purposes, and I stared into his eyes.

Breathless and smiling, he asked me, "So, is that a yes?" I kissed him softly on his lips again.

"That is an absolutely yes," I told him with a gigantic grin plastered on my face. We heard people downstairs shouting "Happy New Year!" to one another.

_Happy New Year, indeed._

**A/N**

**So… that was the alternate ending. Any comments? Remember, I love you all and your REVIEWS!!**

**-S.N.O.**


	12. AUTHOR'S NOTE: UPDATED!

**_UPDATE 8-6-08_**

**_THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NEXT FANFICTION, 'GOOD MORNING MRS. BLACK', IS NOW POSTED!!_**

AUTHOR'S NOTE!!

Okay, so I decided to put this in as a chapter because I know that as soon as you saw another chapter, you'd be like OH I HAVE TO READ IT! Lol, I know; I'm tricky.

Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm not going to continue on with this story. Now before you go get upset, let me finish. No, there will be no more chapters to THIS story. Instead, I will be writing a sequel. Now you can all be happy again. Yay I'm not sure what's exactly going to happen in the sequel though. That's why I'm going to need your help for plot ideas and titles as well.

Also, last night I had all of these crazy ideas for new stories and such pop into my head. So here they are, with titles, summaries, little notes, and the probable order for when they should be published.

1. All in Good Fun- Just a silly one-shot, all human. Bella's had problems with past relationships. She's worried the same thing will happen with Edward. It's just one chapter, maybe plus a quick prologue, about what happens when Edward asks Bella to be his girlfriend.

2. Going Against The Grain- All Human, AU. Bella Swan is next in line for the title of Most Popular Girl at Forks High School, whether she likes it or not. At the start of the new semester, Bella is put in a group to work with the unpopular Alice and Edward Cullen. What will her popular 'friends' say when they find out Bella's been hanging around with the school's biggest loners? And what will happen to Bella's reputation?

3. Good Morning, Mrs. Black- Bella never jumped. Edward never came back. Jacob imprinted. Seven years after Edward and the rest of the Cullens left. Bella is working as a preschool teacher in Phoenix, where she and her husband moved once they both got out of college. The Cullen clan is back together and are attending a new high school. Edward needs community service hours, and he finds that he will helping out a very familiar person from his past.—I think I might actually want to start this one BEFORE #2, just because I think I could do a lot more with it and it seems a bit more interesting.

4. Vampires Will Never Hurt You- Picks up ten years after Eclipse. Bella was changed four days after her and Edward's wedding night. They all moved to a new state and are now attending a new high school. Everything is going smoothly, until a very unwelcome guest stops by for a visit and demands that Edward and Bella return with them.—P.S.- the title is a song by My Chemical Romance.

5. All Good Things: The Sequel (obviously still untitled)- Sequel to All Good Things Happen On New Year's Eve. Still don't know the plot or summary. My apologies.

Okay, so there you have it. My FIVE new stories. I don't know if I'll be able to finish one then start the next, so it's possible that I'll be working on more than one at a time. 'All In Good Fun' will obviously be out first though. That should probably be out this coming Sunday at the latest. Then I'll be starting on 'Going Against the Grain' and 'Good Morning, Mrs. Black' and as soon as I get plot ideas for the sequel, I'll start on that. All of this information will be posted on my profile page as well. REMEMBER TO REVIEW for COMMENTS AND IDEAS!! I love you all.

-S.N.O.


	13. I'M BACK Author's note

**_AUTHOR'S ANNOUNCEMENT: 7-11-09_**

HEY GUYS!

Long time no talk, eh? Let me start off by saying:

You guys are the best, most loyal fans if you're still taking the time to read this.

2) I'm so incredibly sorry… again… that I'm tricking you into thinking there's a new chapter. But there is, kind of…

I know I've been on hiatus for like, ever, and I know I said that I probably wouldn't be writing again for a longgggg time. But yesterday I was watching a show on MTV called Room Raiders. Everybody know what that is? Well, its when either a guy or girl chooses one out of three girls or guys (respectively) based on what they find in their rooms.

Anyway, while I was watching, I had a thought. A pretty good one at that, at least I think so. I decided: "hey! I haven't written in a while, maybe I could just do a little one-shot of a Twilight-fied Room Raiders!"

I've already got an idea and a basic outline of a one-shot , maybe 3 chapters at most, and I just wanted to post this to see A) if you wanted this, and B) who should be the Raider, and who should be the Raidees. I'm gonna put a poll up of these choices.

--Bella is the Raider, Emmett Edward and Jasper are the contestants.

--Edward is the Raider, Bella Rose and Alice are the contestants.

And you guys just go to the poll and tell me which you'd rather like to read, or just PM me, or, hell, just write a review. (But honestly, the poll would be more helpful.)

Okay, well that's it for me now. I'll check back in about a week or so to see which option won the poll (personally, I like the one where Edward's the raider better) and then I'll start writing!

Love always,

S.N.O.

*Jessica*

**_UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE_**

Just an FYI, the poll is now open on my page! And there's a new choice added now, thanks to a very smart/creative reader (GetDrunkOnVictory). The new choice is for a Twilight-fied Room Raiders mini series as follows:

-Bella raids Edward, Jacob, and Mike

-Edward raids Bella, Jessica, and Tanya

-Jasper raids Alice, Maria, and Irina

-Emmett raids Rosalie, Lauren, and Kate

-Alice raids Jasper, James, and Eric

-Rosalie raids Emmett, Tyler, and Royce

Let me know what you think on my poll!

All my love,

-S.N.O. --jessica--


End file.
